The way this album was made was production/compositions first and lyrics second. Rihanna wanted to really experiment this time around with melodies/ sound, eventually the lyrics were introduced and enveloped the entire project.

1. Phresh Out The Runway – we went from melodious edm of Talk That Talk to this hard-hitting bass synth electronic mash-up. With each album moving closer and closer to the eventual sound of Anti. Produced by David Guetta can’t say I hate this. Kind of love its unabashed direction in making everyone and anyone feel like that bitch. Lyrics are pretty generic but her vocals and attitude as usual have a huge contribution to making the song what it is.Overall – 7/10
2. Diamonds (single) – Signature ballad that turns into something that everyone and anybody knows. This song takes me back to my days of University and coming home for the holidays and listening to it in the car with my brother and belting every word. Given Sia’s contribution, it has the pre-LSD Sia-esque vibe to it. Her light and airy vocals when she sings ‘shine bright like a diamond’ followed by her belting and hardy vocals just cements her position as an exceptional vocalist. Love everything about this song.Overall – 10/10
3. Numb ft. Eminem – post Love the Way You Lie’s insane success, Eminem pairs up again for this unexpected mishmashed production. For some reason after Cockiness I feel like she loves having songs like this. Songs that make zero sense to the traditional flow of music that we’re all used to hearing. The mess she creates comes together in this beautiful mixture of crap. Eminem’s verse has its high points and his altered vocal production is so fitting for the rest of the song. Rihanna is a powerhouse and sounds so fucking in love with singing the song, you can hear her smile. The chorus is such a swayer, her singing ‘I’m going numb’ is what opened me up the possibility of being sexually attracted to women. This song basically embodies the type of music she wants to make. Mainstream mess. Mandatory lyric mention: I’m the butt police, and I’m looking at your rear, rear, rear.
4. Overall – 10/10

4. Pour It Up (single) – While I’m going through this album I’m trying to think if anyone followed in Rihanna’s footsteps for out of the box genre mixtures. I don’t think they have. Maybe that contributes to her being such a force of nature, literally just doesn’t give a shit about what is expected to make a hit. This song may not be as experimental as some of the previous ones, but fuck that beat hits and you’re automatically transformed into a person doing full body rolls. It’s almost a responsible brag song? Like she knows she has a crap ton of money but she knows she isn’t going to blow it all at once. Rihanna teaching us to spend our money wisely.Overall – 9/10
5. Loveeeeeee Song ft. Future (single) – techno introduction followed by a bass beat drop and surprising vocals from Future. Love everything about his contribution, again the distorted vocals are so beautiful. Rihanna comes in with her entire appeal of who she is and just owns the rest of the verses.The lyrics are about both parties admitting to what they need in their relationship. It’s such an honest conversation, the man saying all he wants is love and affection. The woman saying that she basically needs the same but in a more descriptive manner, and in return she will give you the entire world. She eventually realizes she’s not his priority and she’s starting to question their initial conversation, eventually threatening him by saying someone else gonna snatch her up.
   The last verse with both of their voices meshed together are so oddly harmonious. That last chorus of them saying ‘love and affection’ together is my favourite part. Overall – 8/10
6. Jump (single) – Fucccckkkkkkkk. The way this song builds up in the first twenty seconds with that beat drop is so fucking good. ‘When you fuck them other girls they probably wondering why you always call my name’, such a confident thing to say. Her attitude is so contagious. She’s unsure of why a relationship didn’t work but she’s not taking the wallow road, she’s taking the road that makes it feel like he went and fucked up, nobody gonna fuck him like she did. And the chorus god damn is so good, telling him if he still wants to sleep together let her know, but she has nothing else to offer him.Production on this song is gold. I’m not exactly fluent in edm, but this definitely feels like it. But it’s not the edm that is constantly playing these days, it’s so different. But that’s Rihanna, always doing something nobody else is. Overall – 10/10

7. Right Now (single) – One of my favourite David Guetta productions. Something Rihanna knows she does well is pop/edm dance numbers and this is no exception. It was playing everywhere when this album first came out. Basically a song that embodies living in the present moment and fucking the rest. The song that will literally make you forget all your problems in the world and just make you dance. Her voice is so unique tonally, the accent coming through at times. Excellent.Overall – 9/10
8. What Now (single) – So this is going to be one of those songs that my opinion is going to be an unpopular one or a polarizing one. I love this song. I absolutely love everything about it from melody to the way she sings it and even the lyrics. Her relationship was suppose to be something that makes her feel like she’s on top of the world, and she did temporarily. She doesn’t know when it all got messed up, she doesn’t feel in love instead feels sad all the time, but she’s also not willing to break it off. She’s gonna wait it out but she doesn’t know what to do next. What’s the next step? Does she wait to be loved again or does she stay and be treated like a joke but the onlookers?The bridge and the verses are where she totally shines. Overall – 10/10
9. Stay (single) – does anything need to be said about this song? No really. Does it? A nice intimate ballad where Mikky and Rihanna work amazing off each other. Lyrics alone deserve a post of their own. The slow build-up followed by nothing over the top, there’s no screaming and the belting is so gentle. I don’t have much more about to say about this since its such an obvious highlight in her career. Overall – 10/10
10. Nobody’s Business ft. – Like I did with Birthday Cake I refuse to review this song for the reasons of who is featured on it. Sucks because production-wise and if that man was taken off the track its a really good song. Easily could’ve been a song Good Girl Gone Bad. Overall 0/10.
11. Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary – this song alone easily makes her a force to be reckoned with. EXTREMELY UNDERRATED. I listen to this song once a month at least. This is the first time she’s brought out her religious beliefs in her music and the dichotomy is real. She’s been searching her entire life for this unconditional love, this love that she deserves. But eventually there’s this realization that there’s always going to be something, some kind of flaw in both parties that makes that perfect love impossible. Because we’re humans, we’re not capable of not making mistakes, it all depends on how we’re willing to work with each other despite the mistakes.
    But where is that unconditional love? She admits god has always given it to her. She finally came to ‘cede’ herself to her faith completely. She’s on her knees asking for guidance and constant support, which she knows is always going to be there even if she doesn’t ask for it. Because it’s unconditional. She’s come to terms that this life that she has been blessed with, she is ready to appreciate and live in the moment instead of letting what-ifs or has happenings to take over anymore. Its time to love what she’s been handed.
    The production matches both parts of the song. A little heavier on the first part and almost more airy in the second part. Overall – 10/10

12. Get It Over With – Last time Rihanna took James Fauntleroy influence was during Te Amo. It worked well then and it’s working amazing now too. This is the definition of a song that’s ‘vibin’. I wouldn’t know but I can just imagine the mood this song gives off is lying on the rooftop with a huge ass blunt. Pretty consistent production, the majority being their vocals being instrumentals with a background of strings. Beautifully done with lyrics that are just telling us its okay to not bottle everything up and let it all out.Overall – 9/10
13. No Love Allowed – the reggae influence that the song starts with makes you instantly smile. Caribbean roots always have some kind of influence on every single one of Rihanna’s albums. Her singing has such a strong accent in this number. What I’m just noticing though is the angst and pain that’s ironically present in almost every song up till now. I didn’t notice it till now but every song so far has an underlying message of her heart being broken and them not deserving her. For such happy production, the lyrics completely juxtapose it. Again even in this song she’s angry, she was hurt by this man and again she’s telling him he went and fucked up. She was a prize to be won and he messed it up. But really is she convincing us or is she trying to convince herself?Overall – 8/10

14. Lost In Paradise – I have no idea why this wasn’t made into a single, honestly, the reality is any song on this album could have thrived as a single. This is a melodious pop number with edm techno aspects that ultimately root back to r&b. Production is perfect and the lyrics again are contrasting the happy dancing composition. She knows it’s a fucked up relationship, it’s not going to last, they’re too toxic for each other. But she’s willing to withstand the future pain for the short paradise she gets with this person in the present moment. Again themes of ‘the present’ or ‘right now’ being repeated throughout the album. Fuck consequences and fuck plaguing every action with the thought of what-ifs. If she can be happy in this moment she’s going to take what she gets.Overall – 10/10
15. Half Of Me – Another underrated gem. An ode to her fans, an ode to her critics, an ode to her lover. A letter to the world telling us nobody knows her. We form our opinions of Rihanna based on pictures and videos and her music. Reality is she’s right, we only know that half of her. She’s been through so much criticism/ scrutiny and finally comes to terms with it in this song. It doesn’t feel she’s got regrets about being constantly analyzed, she’s at peace with it. She’s telling us we know parts of her life and that’s alright, because she’s become‘numb’ (another reoccurring theme) to all of it. Its become a part of her lifestyle and the people that get to see the other half of her that is their privilege. Simple piano background with the focus being on her vocals filled with real emotion. Overall – 10/10

So looking at critic reviews after I just got finished listening to the whole thing I can feel my opinion about to be questioned to pieces. I love this album, this is a perfect album for me, there is not one skip. The way I anticipated the album when it first came out I did not expect the number of deep cuts that it had, but man do they take this album from pop popularity to musical perfection. Every single song leaves its mark. This along with Rated R, in my opinion, are some of her most underrated works excluding the insanely popular singles.

Rihanna is labelled as a pop/r&b artist but after re-listening to almost her entire discography I can say that is just not true. If you take out songs from each album and separate them by genre she could have full albums that are just labelled as rock or edm or reggae. Shes a multi-genre artist and its a disservice to encapsulate her in one genre, which is exactly what she showed us when she made Anti.
I don’t know why but for me Rated R and Unapologetic may be bigger favourites than some of her more popular material like Loud or Good Girl Gone Bad. Again it’s just an opinion but fuck I could listen to this album every day and keep finding something
new.

Album Review – 10/10