Rihanna’s ANTI: arguably the most misunderstood album of the decade.

from the Grammys committee and music journalists, to the public and fans.

a thread on why everybody owes Rihanna an apology:

this thread is going to simply put the spotlight on

- the misunderstood meaning of the record

- the innovative, rule breaking production

- how it pioneered a subtle new structure for pop music

- the misconception about the album not being cohesive

- ANTI Diary Visuals

Rihanna is someone that likes the work to speak for itself, rather than pretentiously brag about how smart and deep her work can be.

Unlike today, ANTI came out at a time when Rih was still not taken seriously as an artist. So we’re gonna dive into everything y’all missed.

“He’s a genius, he’s an artist, and he sees things beyond the surface, which is why we even decided to collaborate” - Rihanna on the artist behind the album cover Roy Nachum.

For anyone doubting that ANTI does have a different meaning beyond the surface of the lyrical content.

ANTI’s theme, poem, album cover, & aesthetics were all in Braille.

the reason behind this concept was to say that “people who have sight are sometimes the people who are blindest.”

“it’s really good to look a little deeper”
the album had layers of meaning.

misunderstood upon its release, several music journalists rushed to write about ANTI being “confused” and not cohesive, ‘cause the songs don’t fade and transition in the “traditional way”.

I’m not sure why they expected an album called ANTI to follow the traditional rules but

stating that ANTI wasn’t sonically cohesive, proved that the music journalists were not paying attention to the album, nor taking their jobs seriously.

you can hear how the ending of track #1 #Consideration has the same baseline and keys as the beginning of track #2 #JamesJoint:

Rihanna is no stranger to traditional cohesive bodies of work. On ANTI she was making her own rules.

Here’s a reminder of how the songs transition on her 4th album Rated R:

sonically speaking, the placement of the songs was quite fresh and genius.

in different instruments and keys, the 3-song stretch (Work, Desperado, Woo) have the same intro:

There’s a subtle reoccurring theme throughout ANTI in the songs’ 2nd verses.

On Consideration, Work, Woo, Needed Me, Love On The Brain, and Sex With Me, the melodies and the flows of the 2nd verses are completely different from the 1st verses, they could pass for a Bridge.

While “Pose” has three verses that sound completely different from each other, songs like Kiss It Better, Desperado, and Never Ending, share a theme where the 1st verse gets repeated with the same lyrical content in the 2nd verse.

The “no rules” theme throughout ANTI continues with differentiating track lengths (the shortest being 1:12 and the longest being 6:37).

Plus, 4 short interludes classified as actual songs. After all they’re just as strong and powerful as the longer, more extended songs.

Artists doing covers on their albums isn’t a revolutionary concept. However, the traditional move is that the song being covered is usually an old known classic, that gets reimagined.

Nothing about Rihanna or ANTI is traditional, and the result was nothing short of brilliant.

Rihanna being the most unpredictable popstar of this century, she covers a 6 months old song by a psychedelic rock band verbatim.

“hearing her version, it made me realize that the song finally got the treatment it deserved from the beginning. It went full circle” - Kevin Parker.

before we dive into the album’s ignored real story, there’s something that needs to be said about Rihanna.

If you’ve ever struggled to see what’s so great about Rihanna aside from her faultless impeccable ear for fantastic music, and her outstanding voice that works on any type of song and makes it her own, then this thread should/will be giving you some clarity.

the current state of the music industry is the perfect most relevant example of why being able to write a song or play an instrument has little to no correlation to making standout songs that give u chills upon the first listen, & are timeless enough to be played ten years later.

That’s why in order to understand Rihanna’s music brand, you gotta drop the rules, and the pretentious facts you know about being an artist, especially a popstar.

While they do apply to so many singers, they don’t apply to her, since she never claimed to be something she’s not.

Rihanna is the maestro behind all her projects. Just how a movie director grabs a script and hires the perfect actors for the perfect roles, this is Rihanna’s job while creating an album. She puts together the best of every world, and creates a marriage that results in magic.

The last section of the thread:

concept, lyrical content, and the actual story of the album:

Beyond the surface, ANTI is a journey to self love and rebirth. The story is about being disconnected from one’s essence and true self, and how on the way to healing you’ll be faced with pain (kiss it better), escapism (work), isolation (desperado), anger (woo) etc..

Rihanna has made it known that she hates being one dimensional. That’s why the songs were written in a way that wouldn’t box ANTI as a concept album, or a record that you can relate to once in your life. Instead, the lyrical content had to live up to the timeless production.

For anyone who feels there’s some level of reaching in this thread, here’s what Rihanna said about Bitch Better Have My Money:

“Work” is a key example of how ANTI is multilayered in meaning and presentation. The juxtaposition between the sad tragic lyrics, and rhythmic dancehall production is something rarely done in pop music.

FourFiveSeconds had a similar concept. here’s what Rihanna said about it:

Rihanna is very serious and passionate about the idea of reconnecting with your inner child, and finding self love.

The ANTI Diary visual series summarized the album in a metaphorical way. The series begins and ends with Rihanna as a child in Barbados.

while making ANTI (early 2014-early 2016), Rihanna was suffering from depression, and was feeling stuck, and disconnected from her soul, and her essence as an artist and a human.

. @rihanna: “When I started making this album I never would have imagined how much of a challenge the process would be. I was evolving in the midst of making a body of art that was supposed to reflect who I was in that moment, yet it was the very answer I didn't have!”

ANTI’s initial/2nd album title was “If They Let Us”

that title alone is enough proof that the songs were not about a relationship with a man.

the only things the ANTI Diary visuals showed was Rih chasing her inner child, & the music industry trying to control her mind & soul.

the ANTI poem:

“I sometimes fear that I am misunderstood. It is simply because what I want to say, what I need to say, won’t be heard. Heard in a way I so rightfully deserve. What I choose to say is of so much substance That people just won’t understand the depth of my message.”

The title “Consideration”, & the lyric “run it all back” were an invitation to look beyond the surface while listening & reading the lyrics, opening a chance for a metaphorical discussion instead of trying to box what ANTI was trying to say into one thing.

the music analysis channel on YouTube @TheMostUnruly is one of the rarity that put two and two together and understood what ANTI was really about.

“ #Consideration is a breakup song, and the listener takes the role of the one that she’s breaking up with”

. @TheMostUnruly on “Needed Me”

“It sounds like it’s just us and her in a cold hallway. singing to us, letting us know everything that we did wrong, right before she leaves us in the dark.”

If you’ve watched ANTI Diary closely, you’d understand exactly what he’s saying.

- the rebirth moment in the album happens on track #9 (Same Ol’ Mistakes)... coincidence? I think tf not.

- the visual in room #5 of the ANTiDiary rings a bell. I wonder if there’s a song on ANTI that fits it perfectly.

Room #4 in ANTiDiary, titled “Tattoo Parlor”. (Needed Me)

This greedy industry person hands Rihanna the machine and trusts her to bring them more profit and wealth.

He starts leaking blue blood (blue bloods are the aristocrats) but he still can’t get enough.

At the end of the visual, we see that Rih has hypnotized him, & escaped. When he wakes up he realizes that she had gotten her conscious back and won’t be selling her soul to them anymore.

The innocence of a child was the worst thing to be in presence of, for a man with no soul.

Room #1 in ANTiDiary: BEDROOM.

If you still think the diary doesn’t represent the ANTI album, is it a coincidence that the first song on ANTI has lyrics about “pale white horse” and “fluttering in from neverland” and the first room in ANTiDiary visualizes that?

Room #8 in ANTiDiary: ANTI ROOM.

The final visual of the ANTiDiary series is a visual representation of the final song on ANTI “Close To You”

It’s the full circle destination that the whole ANTI album was heading towards from the beginning.

In summary, ANTI was a concept album geniusly (I know this isn’t a word but there are no rules when discussing ANTI) disguised as an album with no one specific theme.

ANTI was the name of this character that Rih and Paolo Roversi brought to life in the iconic photoshoot:

throughout the entire record, it was a battle between Rihanna’s demons, and her inner child. the genius behind the album is how the songs could stand out on their own individually (even as radio hits), yet each one was too essential to the story that they couldn’t be replaced.

Rihanna in the R9 documentary when she’s asked if she’s ever tried to do an interview to explain ANTI and the ANTiDiary: