The scorecard
7.5/10 · Great
- Songwriting25%
- 7.0
- Production25%
- 8.5
- Performance15%
- 8.0
- Cohesion15%
- 6.0
- Originality10%
- 7.5
- Replay value10%
- 7.5
The hooks on "Work" and "Love on the Brain" are built to outlast their moment, while "Kiss It Better" earns its chorus lift with restraint rather than repetition, though several tracks lean on mood over memorable melody.
The lo-fi bass textures, downtempo minimalism and atmospheric layering serve the songs without overwhelming them, from the dub glitch of "Consideration" to the synth-rock guitars on "Kiss It Better" and the organic soul instrumentation on "Love on the Brain".
Rihanna moves from the casual drawl on "Needed Me" to the acrobatic range and controlled snarl on "Love on the Brain", showing more vocal character and phrasing choices than on her previous radio singles.
The bass-heavy first half and the textured second half work as distinct zones, but the sixteen-track deluxe length includes three bonus cuts that dilute the flow, and "Goodnight Gotham" is a looping interlude that stops momentum.
The shift from dance-pop to psychedelic soul and industrial dancehall marks a clear break from Rihanna's prior catalog, though the trap-country experiments and Tame Impala cover draw from established templates rather than inventing new ones.
The muted production and emotional honesty have kept the album on the Billboard 200 for over 500 weeks, with "Work", "Needed Me" and "Love on the Brain" holding up better than the hazy midsection and the deluxe filler.
Rihanna ANTI — Pop Abandons the Single Factory
ANTI is the sound of a pop star walking away from the formula that made her, recorded in the two years after Rihanna left Def Jam and the album-a-year cycle that had delivered seven records in seven years. The thesis is in the opening line of "Consideration": doing things her own way means trading radio-friendly hooks for atmospheric production, lo-fi bass and downtempo soul, even when it costs her the singles that had defined her career. The risk paid off in longevity but not in focus, and the album's sixteen-track deluxe sprawl includes enough filler to test the patience it asks for.
The stakes were high. By 2016, Rihanna had thirteen number-one singles and a catalog of dance-pop that sounded increasingly like someone else's vision. ANTI was her first release under Roc Nation, her first album with full creative control, and the first time she had spent more than a year on a record since her debut.
The promotional campaign included a twenty-five million dollar Samsung deal and a two-year rollout that began in summer 2014, with three singles released in early 2015 that did not make the final tracklist. The album that finally arrived in January 2016 abandoned the big songs she said she no longer wanted to perform, replacing them with moody trap-country, dub-inspired minimalism and a Tame Impala cover. Critics praised the emotional honesty and the artistic maturity but split on whether the lack of radio hooks was a feature or a flaw. The album has spent over 500 weeks on the Billboard 200, the longest run by a black woman in chart history, and it remains her most critically acclaimed work. Whether it is her best depends on whether you value ambition over execution.
The Sound of Walking Away from the Machine
The production on ANTI is built around what is missing: no EDM drops, no soaring choruses, no guest verses designed to guarantee airplay. The first half is bass-heavy and industrial, with the dub glitch of "Consideration" giving way to the trap-influenced stomp of "Woo" and the electro minimalism of "Needed Me". The second half strips down further, replacing synthetic textures with organic instrumentation on "Love on the Brain" and "Never Ending", both of which sound like they could have been recorded in the fifties or the seventies. The production team includes Boi-1da, DJ Mustard, Hit-Boy, Timbaland, No I.D. and Jeff Bhasker, all working in a lower register than their usual radio work, layering distorted vocals and downtempo arrangements over lo-fi beats. Kuk Harrell, who handled vocal production on every Rihanna album since 2007, said she was far more meticulous this time, refusing to settle for takes that sounded good enough and insisting on quality over speed.
The songwriting is uneven. "Work", written by PartyNextDoor over a sample of an old-school dancehall rhythm, became Rihanna's fourteenth number-one single in the United States and her fastest-rising hit in years, built on a percolating beat and sinuous synth lines that recall the production work Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did for Janet Jackson. "Love on the Brain" is a doo-wop ballad with a simple chord progression, swirling organ and backing vocals, and it reached number five on the Hot 100 after being released as the fourth single. "Kiss It Better" is an eighties-inspired power ballad with deep synths and electric guitar, earning its chorus lift with restraint rather than repetition. But several tracks lean on mood over melody: "Yeah, I Said It" has a slowed-down groove and little else, "Woo" replaces hooks with atonal guitar chords and distorted vocals, and "Higher" is a woozy love song that Rihanna recorded drunk and described as a voice mail. The lyrics are about relationships from every angle, from desire and endearment to betrayal and liberation, with references to sex, drugs and alcohol that feel more personal than the sexual autonomy themes on Unapologetic.
The weaknesses are structural. The deluxe edition runs sixteen tracks and forty-five minutes, and the bonus material dilutes the sequencing. "Goodnight Gotham" is a looping interlude built from a Florence and the Machine sample, "Pose" is a grimy boast track that repeats ideas from "Needed Me", and "Sex with Me" is dreamy production with no memorable hook. The standard thirteen-track version is tighter but still uneven, with "James Joint" clocking in at seventy-two seconds of neo-soul atmosphere and "Desperado" offering a trap-country experiment that never quite coheres. The album works best when the production serves a song rather than substituting for one, and it stumbles when the mood is the only idea.
Two Halves That Never Quite Meet
The album is sequenced as two distinct zones: a bass-heavy first half that runs from the opener through the midsection, and a textured second half that shifts to organic soul and minimalist balladry. The first zone is the more consistent, with several tracks providing the hooks that hold the moodier material in place. "Work" delivers the album's clearest single, but the run between the early peaks and the transition point sags under the weight of its own atmosphere, with some entries offering little beyond their production textures.
The second half peaks early with "Love on the Brain", which is the album's most fully realized song, and then disperses into ballads and interludes that never build momentum. A six-and-a-half-minute cover of a Tame Impala track is faithful to the original's psychedelic synth groove but adds little, and it breaks the album's flow rather than extending it. The closing stretch includes a guitar-led country-soul ballad with organic melodies and backing vocals, written by Chad Sabo and later picked up by Rihanna, and it works as a moment of quiet but not as a destination. The deluxe tracks arrive after a slow piano ballad sung in a jazz style, and they feel like afterthoughts rather than extensions of the album's argument. The length is not earned, and the album never decides whether it is a focused artistic statement or a collection of experiments.
Where It Lands in the Catalog and Who It Is For
ANTI is Rihanna's most ambitious album and her least accessible, a record that prioritizes atmosphere and emotional honesty over hooks and radio play. It ranks as her most critically acclaimed work, and it has outlasted every other album in her catalog on the charts, but it is not her most consistent or her most enjoyable. The production is excellent when it serves the songs and aimless when it does not, and the deluxe edition includes three tracks that should have been cut. The standard version is stronger but still uneven, with a midsection that leans too hard on mood and a second half that never builds the momentum the first half establishes.
This is the album for listeners who want to hear Rihanna as an artist rather than a hitmaker, and it is the wrong starting point for anyone looking for the dance-pop that defined her earlier work. The best case for the album is the four strongest individual songs, all of which hold up as evidence of what the album is trying to do. The best case against it is the sixteen-track deluxe sprawl, the lack of focus in the sequencing, and the feeling that the album is more interested in what it is not than in what it is.
If you are coming from Unapologetic or Loud, expect a completely different sound and be prepared for stretches where nothing much happens. If you are coming from SZA or Frank Ocean, this will make more sense, though it is less focused than the best work in that tradition. The album has aged well, and it sounds less like a departure now than it did in 2016, when the shift from dance-pop to psychedelic soul felt more radical. Start with the three biggest singles, then explore the moodier material if those tracks connect. Skip the deluxe tracks unless you are already sold. Hear Rated R next if you want more of Rihanna's darker work, or hear SZA's Ctrl if you want a more cohesive version of this sound.
Track by track
Track Listing
Consideration
StandoutThe opening track sets the album's thesis in the first line and backs it up with dub-inspired glitch production and SZA's guest verse, which adds a second voice to the argument without overwhelming Rihanna's lead. The production is sparse and deliberate, with synthetic textures and downtempo beats that establish the lo-fi aesthetic the first half will follow. This is the album's clearest statement of intent, and it works as both an introduction and a standalone song, though the glitchy rhythm may take a few listens to settle in.
James Joint
SolidA seventy-two-second neo-soul interlude with harmonica and rising bass riffs, written in less than thirty minutes according to the fact sheet. It works as atmosphere and as a transition, but it is too short to develop an idea or justify its place in the tracklist.
Kiss It Better
StandoutAn eighties-inspired power ballad with deep synths, electric guitar and a chorus that earns its lift through restraint rather than repetition. The lyrics focus on a destructive relationship that the singer knows is wrong but finds irresistible, and the vocal performance moves from controlled verses to a more open chorus without overselling the emotion. The production serves the song without overwhelming it, and the track holds up as one of the album's clearest successes, even though it only reached number twenty-four on the pop chart. This is the best argument for what ANTI is trying to do, and it is one of the few tracks that would have worked on a previous Rihanna album without sounding out of place.
Work
StandoutThe lead single and the album's biggest hit, built on a percolating beat, sinuous synth lines and a sample of an old-school dancehall rhythm. PartyNextDoor wrote the lyrics, Drake delivers a guest verse, and Boi-1da and Noah "40" Shebib handle production that recalls the work Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did for Janet Jackson. The track became Rihanna's fourteenth number-one single in the United States and her fastest-rising hit in years, and it remains the album's most accessible entry point. The reggae-pop rhythm and the casual vocal delivery make it feel lighter than the tracks around it, but it fits the album's downtempo aesthetic without sacrificing the hook.
Desperado
SolidA trap-country experiment with a mid-tempo groove, bell ringing, shuddering drums, deep synths and vocal samples. The genre blend is more interesting in concept than in execution, and the track never quite coheres, offering atmosphere and mood without a memorable hook or a clear direction. It works as a transition but not as a destination.
Woo
WeakTwo jarring atonal guitar chords repeated over trap-influenced percussion and a basic riff, with slow stomping distortion and no real melody or groove. The production was compared to Kanye West's work, and it shares that tendency to replace hooks with texture, but without a stronger idea underneath the track feels like an experiment that does not go anywhere. The lyrics turn spiteful, but the vocal delivery is too muted to sell the attitude.
Needed Me
StandoutA downtempo track with electro-bubble synths, synthetic sounds and a loose, casual vocal that discusses romantic rejection without overselling the emotion. The production is minimal and the hook is more of a refrain than a chorus, but the track became Rihanna's twenty-eighth top-ten single on the Hot 100 and her longest-charting hit, surpassing the forty-one-week run of "We Found Love". The vocal performance is the draw here, with Rihanna moving from a low register to a more open delivery without ever pushing too hard, and the track holds up better on repeat listens than the more atmospheric experiments around it.
Yeah, I Said It
WeakA slowed-down groove with Timbaland production and little else. The track offers mood and texture but no memorable hook, and it feels like filler even in the context of an album that prioritizes atmosphere over singles.
Same Ol’ Mistakes
SolidA six-and-a-half-minute cover of Tame Impala's "New Person, Same Old Mistakes", recorded in Paris after Rihanna's team contacted the band's management. The production is faithful to the original's psychedelic synth groove, with fluid sound, elements of hip-hop and pop rock, and a slow, dreamy arrangement. Kevin Parker gave permission and said he was happy with the result, but the track adds little to the original and breaks the album's flow rather than extending it. It works as a standalone song for listeners who do not know the Tame Impala version, but it feels like a detour rather than a destination, and the length is not earned.
Never Ending
SolidA guitar-led country-soul ballad with organic melodies and backing vocals, written by Chad Sabo and later picked up by Rihanna. Dido is credited as a writer due to a similarity in melody to her 1999 song "Thank You". The track works as a moment of quiet and as a shift in the album's sound, moving from synthetic textures to acoustic instrumentation, but it does not build enough momentum to justify its place in the sequencing. It is pleasant but not essential.
Love on the Brain
StandoutA fifties-inspired doo-wop ballad with a guitar arpeggio, swirling organ, simple chord progression and backing vocals, and the album's most acrobatic vocal performance. Rihanna moves from her trademark snarl to high notes, selling the dark lyrics about a destructive yet addictive relationship without overselling the emotion. The production is organic and the arrangement is classic, and the track reached number five on the Hot 100 after being released as the fourth single. This is the album's most fully realized song, the one that best balances the muted production aesthetic with a memorable hook and a vocal performance that earns the emotion. It is the clearest example of what ANTI is trying to do, and it is the track most likely to hold up in fifteen years.
Higher
WeakA woozy love song recorded in the early morning hours while Rihanna was under the influence of alcohol, described by the singer as a drunk voice mail. The production contains lyrics about her feelings towards a lover while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and the track works as a mood piece but not as a song. It is too short to develop an idea and too aimless to justify its existence.
Close to You
SolidA slow piano ballad sung in a jazz style, written by James Fauntleroy after producer Brian Kennedy sent him a piano sample. The track works as a quiet moment and as a transition, but it does not build enough momentum to close the standard edition, and the deluxe tracks that follow make the sequencing worse rather than better.
Goodnight Gotham
WeakA looping interlude built from a sample of Florence and the Machine's "Only If for a Night", with Rihanna singing along. It is atmosphere and nothing else, and it stops the album's momentum rather than extending it.
Pose
WeakA grimy boast track with aggressive vocals about riches, repeating ideas from "Needed Me" without adding anything new. Filler.
Sex With Me
WeakDreamy production with vocals about beauty, closing with a trippy blend. No memorable hook and no reason to exist beyond the deluxe edition's commercial logic.
