shouldn't have said "almost." this is her best.
― billstevejim, Friday, 4 March 2016 22:43 (eight years ago) link
yeah i don't even think the delivery is 'sloppy,' she's just using her native accent on the song more vs. something like "Pon De Replay" where everything is really painstakingly enunciated to make it more palatable to American audiences
― some dude, Friday, 4 March 2016 22:56 (eight years ago) link
i saw a hard copy of this album today 1 of my coworkers had it
― johnny crunch, Friday, 4 March 2016 23:02 (eight years ago) link
I love "Work" and her vocal on it too. It's the piano that takes it over the top though. Her (and Drake's) live performance of it on the Brits however...
― breastcrawl, Friday, 4 March 2016 23:12 (eight years ago) link
i had avoided 'work' because, you know drake and yeah he absolutely torpedoes the track but at the moment i am allhttp://nutbreath.tumblr.com/post/140235952802/when-yall-start-arguing-over-the-aux-cord-no
― ulysses, Saturday, 5 March 2016 01:40 (eight years ago) link
possible album of the year for me. i know it's early but i haven't re-listened to anything this much since black messiah.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 12 March 2016 18:28 (eight years ago) link
tracks 1-9 anyway.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 12 March 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
keep coming back to this record. "desperado" & "woo" are still kinda wack to me tho i've warmed to "desperado"
i love the mood of "needed me" & "yeah i sad it"
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 7 April 2016 06:14 (eight years ago) link
the lyrics of "needed me" are so good i wish it had any sort of hook
"desperado" playing after "work" has made me like it somewhat!
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 April 2016 07:47 (eight years ago) link
i dunno i like that cascading "ne-ee-ee-ee-eeded me" part
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 7 April 2016 14:55 (eight years ago) link
Robert Christgau raved about it.
Rihanna: Anti (Deluxe Edition) (Westbury Road/Roc Nation) The reason I like this record beginning to end has zip to do with whether it documents her sexual mood swings more proudly or soulfully. The presentational Rihanna is so unlike anyone I know that she can say anything she wants about her musical punany as long as she leaves Chris Brown out of it—with this artist, sex is figurative, symbolic, the mark of a pleasure taker turned pleasure provider. So Anti is her best album for a reason so simple it's tautological—despite its supposed rejection of track-and-hook mechanics, it features catchier songs. True, the main time they really make me go woo is when she breaks into gibberish at the end of "Work." But then some German hands her "Love on the Brain," the best new doowop song in decades, which segues perfectly to a power entreaty avec drunk violins, after which the album proper goes out on a piano-enhanced coda that adds a nice sweetness. Only instead of savoring this narrative arc, why don't you just proceed to the three bonus tracks, which top an M.I.A. move with none other than "Sex With Me"? A
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 7 April 2016 14:56 (eight years ago) link
christgau's writing style and persona seems so dated now, aside from "these are the catchiest songs of rihanna's career" being an insane opinion
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 April 2016 15:08 (eight years ago) link
and almost like, objectively wrong
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 7 April 2016 15:09 (eight years ago) link
... right down to "some German" handling her Love On The Brain. Sigh.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 7 April 2016 16:20 (eight years ago) link
in RC's defense "Work" gets stuck in my head like no other prior Rihanna song
glad this thread has reached a more sane equlibrium on this album, though I actually forgot about lol Woo, I deleted it so fast. I made peace with "HIgher" by deciding it's a Tom Waits circa Small Changes homage. "Consideration" is kinda slept on itt
― rob, Thursday, 7 April 2016 18:23 (eight years ago) link
i always enjoy "consideration" when i put it on but i can never remember any of it afterwards!
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 April 2016 18:39 (eight years ago) link
I love "Kiss It Better" and will prefer to hear it 1000x times a day over the menace called "Work."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 April 2016 19:13 (eight years ago) link
huh, "consideration" was the first track I really connected with, though its p structurally loose so I can see it feeling evasive. I like that it's a duet, plus it has a kind of Broadway meets Kingston feel to it.
is "work" a menace because it's an earworm or cuz of Drake? regarding the latter, I like to imagine that "who am I to hold your past against you?" is directed at him. he also comes bearing the good news that there's a campaign to end him
― rob, Thursday, 7 April 2016 19:37 (eight years ago) link
(a) the gibberish is an annoyance(b) Drake
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 April 2016 19:37 (eight years ago) link
"Needed Me" sounded amazing on Hot 97 today. I hope they stick with it for the next radio hit.
― billstevejim, Thursday, 7 April 2016 19:41 (eight years ago) link
had the exact opposite effect on me.
― billstevejim, Thursday, 7 April 2016 19:43 (eight years ago) link
"needed me" starting to get radio play over here too. it's been charting really well based almost solely on heavy streaming activity so it would appear the demand is there.
― dyl, Thursday, 7 April 2016 20:09 (eight years ago) link
nah "Needed Me" and "Kiss" were both released as singles simultaneously
― "Robots are sexy as shit" - Big Sean (some dude), Thursday, 7 April 2016 21:40 (eight years ago) link
or you mean the streaming before the single release, yeah it was already doing pretty well.
I get consideration in my head all the time. I love the vocal line even though/because it reminds me of wendy vainity's "I am a cat" video
― ogmor, Friday, 8 April 2016 14:02 (eight years ago) link
love this album, way more than i would have ever imagined. didn't trust my judgment at first, maybe i just really want to fuck rihanna right now, and was reassured by the xgau review until i read it and it was clear he just really wants to fuck rihanna right now. other than rated r i haven't heard any other entire rihanna albums, her pace kinda screams 'hits and filler' to me and i could get the hits from radio. what else do i need to check out?
― balls, Friday, 8 April 2016 14:06 (eight years ago) link
rated r is her only album qua album masterpiece (and is weirdly the album anti feels like it's trying to replicate, but not as well)
i would probably argue for music of the sun as her second best album
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 8 April 2016 14:09 (eight years ago) link
I don't think anti is trying to replicate it but it's trying very hard to be a career changer - like rated r was. Only then she had some very good reasons for wanting to change her image/persona whereas this time it feels slightly forced?
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 8 April 2016 14:19 (eight years ago) link
Unapologetic is her best followed by Good Girl Gone Bad imo
― Hey (Extended Mix), Saturday, 9 April 2016 09:02 (eight years ago) link
Rated R, Good Girl Gone Bad, Loud and Unapologetic are all good albums, which is partly why the narrative about ANTi being her first ALBUM is so frustrating.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Saturday, 9 April 2016 11:59 (eight years ago) link
AOTY
― billstevejim, Sunday, 10 April 2016 23:02 (eight years ago) link
it's a really good album!
― ulysses, Monday, 11 April 2016 00:29 (eight years ago) link
i probably like Talk That Talk and Unapologetic best. Rated R and Good Girl Gone Bad are among the stronger ones but have stuff i don't like at all. Anti somewhere below those.
― some dude, Monday, 11 April 2016 01:53 (eight years ago) link
Anti has like 5 great songs and then stuff that doesn't work so much for me, about typical
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, 11 April 2016 02:45 (eight years ago) link
anti may not be rihanna's first good album but it is her first *cohesive* album in quite some time
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 11 April 2016 05:43 (eight years ago) link
i was going to say it's certainly the one with the least "stuff that doesn't work so much for me" since rated r, but then i realised i never actually listened to unapologetic in full
― art baengels (monotony), Monday, 11 April 2016 05:51 (eight years ago) link
have come to think of the first four tracks together representing the best and most true capsule suite of the full rihanna experience. impulsive/ thoughtful, messy/self-aware-calculated, sentimental/real, cheap/lavish, trite/evocative, and all of it sort of touching in its signature way ("i come fluttering in from neverland" perfect, she knows herself better than we do)
can be expanded to first six if cynical meta if necc cos 'desperado' is default ri album trash and 'woo' is cool junk
i still don't really bother sticking around for the rest, seems reiterative, duration of marination is a personal pref but doesnt add more flava
(westwood did teach me that 'sex with me' is the spring jammy jam though, pure temptay-shuun)
― r|t|c, Monday, 11 April 2016 10:42 (eight years ago) link
xgau rvw is great btw fuck the haters
― r|t|c, Monday, 11 April 2016 10:46 (eight years ago) link
ah, for me the second half(let's say from "needed me" to the end) is the best (although "consideration" and "kiss it better" are among my favourite tracks here).I love the one-two punch "love on the brain"/"higher". I have the impression her singing is more varied than before.good album overall.
― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 11 April 2016 10:54 (eight years ago) link
xp Rihanna as Peter Pan to a culture of Wendys is so good: "I have to do things my own way darling"
― rob, Monday, 11 April 2016 12:54 (eight years ago) link
p sure any configuration of her and us as peter, tink and/or wendy is arguable tbh
― r|t|c, Monday, 11 April 2016 14:07 (eight years ago) link
"Sex with you" is my favorite on the album tbh
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, 11 April 2016 16:34 (eight years ago) link
to echo billstevjim it is indeed beautiful and does indeed rule, i couldn't love this more. can't recall a mainstream pop album i've liked as much since maybe Futuresex/Lovesounds. seems she's doing almost the entire thing on the tour dates too, or like 9 tracks at least each night.
― piscesx, Thursday, 5 May 2016 21:47 (eight years ago) link
I unabashedly love this album. Incredible songwriting, gorgeous production, really inventive, ballsy vocal performances.
Reminds me a lot of Channel Orange in its varied aesthetics, dream logic and vignette-esque storytelling. Also it's an album that feels oblique and impressionistic at first, but reveals itself to be incredibly openhearted after multiple listens. It's incredible.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 10 May 2016 19:53 (eight years ago) link
Shame about this album's bungled release, though. The narrative around it should have been "holy shit this album is incredible," instead it was "lol Tidal."
― Evan R, Tuesday, 10 May 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link
agree on all counts
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 10 May 2016 19:56 (eight years ago) link
interesting that "needed me" is really taking off while "kiss it better" is looking like a pretty big flop
I feel like history will vindicate "Kiss It Better." Already acts are covering it (Miguel and Father John Misty, which yeah, I know), and that helps canonize a song. Shame it's not the hit it deserves to be, but I've gotta believe it'll eventually be recognized as something really special.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 10 May 2016 20:02 (eight years ago) link
i don't really get the praise for this album, if anything there's a bigger quality gap between the singles and the rest than on a lot of her other albums
― a goon shaped tool (some dude), Tuesday, 10 May 2016 23:02 (eight years ago) link
love on the brain tho
― billstevejim, Thursday, 12 May 2016 22:02 (eight years ago) link