Rihanna | - Anti -deluxe- -2016-album-

– A 78-second weed-and-R&B interlude. Dreamy, wasted, and gorgeous. It sets the album’s hazy mood perfectly.

The Deluxe edition adds three additional tracks to the standard 13, but more importantly, it completes the album’s thesis: freedom is messy, and so is this record. Gone are the EDM bombasts of We Found Love and the glossy Caribbean-pop of Work . ANTI is a grimy, sample-heavy, genre-bending collage. Executive produced by Rihanna herself alongside Jeff Bhasker (Kanye, Bruno Mars), the album pulls from 70s soul (Tavares’ “It Only Takes a Minute” on “James Joint”), trip-hop (a haunting interpolation of Tame Impala’s “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” on “Same Ol’ Mistakes”), and gut-punch ballads. Rihanna - ANTI -Deluxe- -2016-Album-

– The most aggressive track. A distorted, trap-infused kiss-off to an ex. She sounds genuinely venomous: “You ain’t shit.” It’s ugly, petty, and perfect. – A 78-second weed-and-R&B interlude

– The best 80s power-ballad Prince never wrote. A razor-sharp guitar riff, a vulnerable but defiant vocal, and lyrics about sex as emotional suturing. “What are you willing to do?” she purrs. It’s erotic and wounded. The Deluxe edition adds three additional tracks to

No. It’s indulgent, messy, and at times, frustrating.

The production is intimate . There’s vinyl crackle (“Consideration”), muffled vocals, and space where a beat should drop. It sounds like you’re listening to a cassette tape in a dimly lit basement. This is not a stadium record. It’s a headphones record. 1. “Consideration” (ft. SZA) – A mission statement. SZA’s wounded yelp opens the track before Rihanna declares, “I got to do things my own way / Darling, you should know.” It’s a middle finger to expectations, set to a stuttering, militant drum line.