ANTI, The Album Nobody Wanted But Rihanna Needed.
Let's go back in time. It was January 27, 2016, just the day of my birthday. Every Rihanna fan was eager for the arrival of her new album: ANTI. After three singles spread over three years (the country beat “FourFiveSeconds”, “American Oxygen” and “Bitch Better Have My Money” with an amazing video), plus the rare experience of Anti DiaRy, we all knew it was only a matter of time before the long-awaited LP could be on our hands. And, suddenly, all the unbelievable happened: Rihanna was releasing, without any warning, the album's first single: “Work”. I received that song as the best gift I could have had that day. Although the first time I listened to it, the song seemed strange, little worked and without any potential to be a single, little by little the sticky rhythm of this dancehall and reggae theme got stuck in my brain. I remember listening to it in my room, full volume, thirty times in a row and my roommates begging me to stop. But I just couldn't. I had doubted Rihanna for a moment, how strange it was that she hadn't released a totally commercial song as the first single from an album that, due to its late arrival (she used to release a record per year), had created immense expectations. But I was wrong; Riri risked it all with a silly, repetitive and tropical theme, which invited to dance from the first second. Wait ... Rihanna? being risky with her music? Well, this was just the tip of the iceberg. The following week, also by surprise, the whole album came to us ..., and the world put their hands to their head, including myself. Not even one of the songs sounded like anything that Rihanna had released before; “Work” seemed to be the most commercial item on the album (it was soon able to sell more than 8 million copies worldwide, giving her #14 #1 on Billboard and becoming of the biggest successes of his career). Thousands of criticisms were received on ANTI, while I saw myself in a halo of confusion while listening to all the songs for the first time. In front of us, there was this strange and experimental album, where the disco diva in Rihanna told us goodbye. Had been the title of the album a clue all along? Few stopped to analyze and find the need for this album in the career of the singer, something that we discovered at its own time.
