Anti is the eighth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on January 27, 2016, through Westbury Road and Roc Nation. The singer began planning the record in 2014, at which time she left her previous label Def Jam and joined Roc Nation. Work continued into 2015, during which she released three singles including FourFiveSeconds, which reached the top 10 in several markets; they were ultimately removed from the final track listing. Anti was made available for free digital download on January 27 through Tidal and was released to online music stores for paid purchase on January 29.
As executive producer, Rihanna contributed to most of the album’s lyrics and collaborated with producers including Jeff Bhasker, Boi-1da, DJ Mustard, Hit-Boy, Brian Kennedy, Timbaland and No I.D. to achieve her desired sound. The efforts resulted in a departure from Rihanna’s previous dance and club music genres and created a primarily pop, hip hop soul and R&B album, with elements of dancehall and soul. The producers incorporated dark, sparsely layered, minimalist song structures, with most of Anti’s lyrics dealing with the complexities of romantic love and self-assurance.
In the United States, Anti received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) two days after its release as a result of Samsung purchasing one million copies of the album in advance that were then given away as a free download, part of the $25 million deal signed by Rihanna in 2015.
The lead single Work became Rihanna’s 14th number 1 song in the United States. In February 2018 Rihanna made history with ANTI by putting the most songs atop Dance Club Songs chart from one album (eight).
Six songs from the album are at least platinum: Work (6x platinum), Needed Me (5x platinum), Love On The Brain (3x platinum), Sex With Me, Kiss It Better, Desperado (1x platinum).
Tracklist
- Consideration (feat. SZA)
- James Joint
- Kiss It Better
- Work (feat. Drake)
- Desperado
- Woo
- Needed Me
- Yeah, I Said It
- Same Ol’ Mistakes
- Never Ending
- Love On The Brain
- Higher
- Close To You
- Goodnight Gotham – deluxe edition
- Pose – deluxe edition
- Sex With Me – deluxe edition
One year after the release, Rihanna wrote a touching message to her fans on Instagram and celebrated #ANTIversary with them.