ZIANNA MILITO

After months of dropping videos as hints part of a complex online experience, Rihanna's long-awaited album ANTi was released late Wednesday night on Tidal Music. You could say she's done it again, but ANTi is a first for Rihanna. This album is a painful journey filled with conversations with lovers and contradictions within herself. An unfortunate part of Rihanna's artistic identity (which may be a reflection of her personal identity) is her confinement to toxic relationships. She asks for independence, acceptance, and love throughout the 13-track standard edition album, while still understanding one truth: she can never be free. Whether her escapist attempts at autonomy manifest themselves through sex, being bad bitch Bad Gal RiRi, or her love for weed, this album is not only a musical exploration of dynamic songs and lyrics everyone is bound to relate to, but of her power as an artist and a woman. 

 

In Consideration (feat. SZA), Rihanna first asks to be free. "I needed you to please give my reflection a break from the face it's seeing now". She realizes she has lost herself in the lover she speaks of, seeing him in her own reflection. Pleading for the ability to "do things [her] own way," she carries the opening reference to Neverland in her ability to grow as long as she's in this relationship. James Joint is a respite from the heaviness of the relationship. She'd "rather be smoking weed," wanting to escape with her lover from the world. We know she's still invested in something tumultuous from lines like "I''d rather be breaking things / Cause we can't see" and "How you live and love like 'fuck rules'".

 

We're reminded of Ri's sensitivity and need for something that feels right in Kiss It Better. She describes a relationship turned sour but maintains hope that he can make it better. The title is in reference to something a hurt child would say, and she hopes he will accept responsibility when imploring, "What are you willing to do?". Held down by a soulful electric guitar, desperation runs through this painful yet catchy track; "who cares when it feels like crack?"

 

Work (Feat. Drake) was released as a single shortly before ANTi was made public, an interesting choice as it stands out from the remainder of the album. The majority of the track is sung in Patois, a Jamaican dialect native to Rihanna's homeland of Barbados. She seems almost exhausted as she puts in work, presumably into her career, which keeps her away from a lover who she believes is losing interest. Drake's verse reveals a "soft boy" persona, understanding and somewhat sensitive, but still very concerned with sex. Easy to dance to the hook, and compelling to listen to each verse, this song is perhaps most reminiscent of Ri's roots, musically and personally.

 

Next up is Desperado, rich in bass and a seductive narrative. She's found a man with the same pain as her, and yearns to disappear with someone who will understand her loss of hope. In Woo, Ri has supposedly moved away from a past flame, but still has a hold on him and feels an undeniable lust. This collaboration with La Flame (Travis Scott, Ri's rumored beau) describes a toxic, addicting relationship. Rihanna gets twisted pleasure from knowing that the new girl doesn't have the same hold on her man; "She can almost be for us and me." Things are still heated between her and her flame, clear in lines between a couple who once shared something extraordinary, but Ri's phrasing is demanding ("Run it back like you owe me something") and condescending ("Tell me 'bout your picture perfect darling"). She still holds the power, but is clearly still self-conscious because of how she abuses it. 

 

Needed Me could almost be an explanation of Woo, the preceding track. Basically, she comes at an ex and reassures him that she was just having her fun, and he was the one who needed her, not the reverse; "fuck your white horse and a carriage". This DJ Mustard-produced anthem is for the savage in every empowered woman. Continuing on the wave of feminine confidence, Yeah, I Said It is a slow and sexy confession: Rihanna basically wants to "get a little bad" in the bedroom. She unapologetically breaks the silence of a woman who wants sex (most women, believe it or not) and even adds that she's comfortable keeping things casual ("fuck a title").

 

Same Ol' Mistakes is arguably the turning point in the album. At first listen, it sounds like Ri has reinvented herself ("Feel like a brand new person") and learned from old mistakes. However, the vocals layered within the chorus reveal a conversation that's being had with another side of herself, which knows that she still has not learned ("But you make the same old mistakes"). As a cover of Tame Impala's New Person, Same Old Mistakes. Rihanna's choice to keep the trickle of electronica notes shows that she truly is headed "in a new direction."         

 

The opposing voices from Same Ol' Mistakes seem to ease up in Never Ending, as a gentle strum and shaken beat reflects Rihanna's fragile state after losing herself in a relationship. She refers to herself as the "ghost in the mirror", speaking to her inability to be present. She's with someone new, but she wishes she knew how "to be in love again."

 

Love on the Brain marks a shift on ANTi toward a more sensitive Bad Gal. The steady doo-wop instrumentals and bluesy vocals are reminiscent of Etta James and Amy Whinehouse. Ri describes an addictive feeling that "beats [her] black and blue but it fucks [her] so good," referencing an abusive past. This track showcases what we know Ri best for, a sultry rasp and attraction to toxic relationships, but surprises us by the subtle twist on a classic-sounding love song. By adding "Can we burn something babe?" we're reminded of her escapist tendencies. Only when we listen close can we understand her pain: "Don't quit loving me / Just stop loving me." Higher seems like a result of the last track. She introduces with "This whiskey got me feelin' pretty / So pardon if I'm impolite". It's honest and raw, sweet like a drunk-dialed phone call "with a little bit too much to say." Ri uses this short interlude to take a risk at a strained, almost pained vocal bleeding with emotion, similar to Miley Cyrus on her latest project.

 

The last song of the Standard edition album, Close To You, is a gentle ballad about yearning to be close to a lover who seems to not care. ANTi is an album of inner conflict in lust versus love where Ri reveals her confidences and weaknesses. Ending as she did was a vulnerable choice that probably reflects a pattern she's seen in her own life, but it still leaves hope. She sees him "pretend [he's] unaffected," meaning she knows he still does care. She leaves the ball in his court by closing with, "If you let me, I'd be there by now / Close to you." Ending this way is perhaps the most raw and human, the antithesis to what one would expect from a seasoned pop star.

 

The Deluxe edition of the album includes three extra tracks. The bulk of the Standard edition was the project Rihanna needed to give us, and the Deluxe additions were the fun that we're so used to from her.

 

The most experimental of the collection, Goodnight Gotham is a sample of Florence & The Machine's Only If For a Night which denotes feelings of a night which perhaps shouldn't be spoken of again. Pose is the bad bitch anthem we were all waiting for. Carried by lines like, "Wanna see you, work it, oh my god, pose bitch" and "Yass bitch, let me see you get it," Ri does a damn good job at getting her fellow bad bitches hyped. The final Deluxe addition, Sex With Me, is Ri saying that sex with her is "so amazing," (as if we couldn't already guess). 

 

ANTi keeps Rihanna's title as one of the Baddest of our time on reserve, as she surprised us with a range of songs and musical references harmonizing to tell a long, sad story. On the Deluxe edition, she knew what we expected, and decided to have some fun with that. Ri still may not be completely free of pain, but she does know her strengths. Her collaborations on this album have synthesized an originality that speaks volumes about her as an artist. She needed us to listen, and we're sure glad we did. Like sex with Rihanna, as far as recent albums goes, "this is the best there is."