Anti by Rihanna // 10 Year Anniversary Album Review

Anti simultaneously marked the beginning and end of a creative era for Rihanna in many ways. She went into the creation of this album intentionally wanting to make the antithesis of all that had come before in her discography.

Rihanna's catalog is truly one of the strongest and most impactful in contemporary music, no one else has had the run of iconic hits that she had from the mid-2000s through the 2010s. It is truly incomparable, as she dominated the industry in a way very few artists ever have. With that being said, Rihanna was never really considered an "album artist", so to speak. She had countless incredible singles, but most of her full-length albums didn't carry the same strength all the way through. A lot of them were built around the singles and the tracklist didn't always match the level of those standalone hits. They were more of a sum of their parts.

With this release, she wanted to step away from the polished, radio-friendly pop sound she'd been known for up to that point. Anti holds such an important space amongst her other classics because of that. Looking back now, it also serves as a kind of bookend for that era of her life and what is potentially her last album, or at least the last one before a prolonged hiatus to focus on other ventures. After ten years without releasing new music, that possibility feels more than likely, and understandably so. But if this really does end up being her final album, she went out on the highest possible note making the strongest body of work of her entire career.

Anti is the first record she released that felt like it was meant to be listened to in its entirety, as a complete, intentional body of work. It feels truly representative of her voice and style in a way that none of her previous albums fully captured. She wanted to make something that didn't feed into the pop trends of the moment or chase radio, and you can feel that throughout the entire project. It was a very different approach for her, one that can really only be compared to Unapologetic, Anti's precursor four years earlier, which at the time was the longest break she had ever taken between albums.

"I just wanted to focus on things that felt real, that felt soulful, that felt forever. I wanted songs that I could perform in 15 years; I wanted an album that I could perform in 15 years. Not any songs that were burnt out. I find that when I get on stage now, I don't want to perform a lot of my songs because they don’t feel like me." she said in an interview with MTV. She ended up creating a timeless body of work that still sounds just as fresh now as it did in 2016 and will undoubtedly continue to be into 2036 and beyond too. She ended up creating something far more intentional, rather than something with wider appeal.

The whole album is atmospheric and sensual, and she delivers some of the best performances of her entire career. Rihanna worked with such a wide, eclectic team of collaborators to bring this vision to life, and you can hear that in how varied and textured the album is. It's a masterpiece of modern R&B, stripped of any pop polish, leaning instead into something far more real and reflective of her actual influences. It brings together a dynamic mix of sounds that feels like the truest representation of why Rihanna is the icon she is.

One thing about Rihanna is that she has always been a trendsetter from the very start. She has consistently had an eye for rising talent long before the rest of the world caught on and Anti is especially full of those early co‑signs. An artist like SZA is a prime example of this, who features on the opening song "Consideration", originally written to be a part of her own groundbreaking debut album, Ctrl, released the following year. "I just felt really connected to that recording," Rihanna told Vogue in a 2016 interview. "I felt like, if any recording could represent this album, whether it's sonically, whether it's the sound of my voice, whether it's the attitude, whether it's lyrically. The beat. Everything is so demanding, and it grabs your attention right away. And I felt like that was important, especially after such a long time between albums."

It serves as a really important opening thesis statement for the rest of the album to follow, laying out her intentions of how she wants to be perceived as an artist and the growth she had experienced since her last release in 2012. Lyrics like "Let me cover your shit in glitter, I could make it gold," and "I got to do things my own way, darlin', you should just let me, will you ever respect me? No," capture the exact energy she was aiming to capture. Her intentions with Anti were unmistakable, completely ready to take full creative control and redefine herself on her own terms.

She worked with a range of both legendary and emerging songwriters and producers, everyone from Timbaland to DJ Mustard, Mike Dean to The‑Dream, and even Tame Impala's Kevin Parker. It's such a wide, unexpected mix, but that's exactly what makes the album feel so forward‑thinking even a decade after its release.

She also worked with The Weeknd, at the time still a rising artist, as a songwriter on one of the album's highlights, "Woo", featuring Travis Scott. The House of Balloons era influence is very prominent and "I bet she could never make you cry, 'cause the scars on your heart are still mine" remains to be one of the best opening lines of the entire album. Drake, a frequent collaborator, featured on the album's lead single "Work" too, which pulled in reggae pop influences and became a defining song for the era.

Another collaboration worth noting is "Never Ending", a deep cut that still feels like such a hidden gem. She collaborated with Chad Sabo, a small indie songwriter who had uploaded his music to SoundCloud and Facebook before someone at Roc Nation discovered him. It's one of the most underrated moments on the album, and such a testament to Rihanna's willingness to champion voices far outside the mainstream.

Anti features a run of truly insane, undeniable career highlights and some of the most passionate performances Rihanna has ever delivered. These are some of the biggest songs in her entire discography, and among her most enduring, timeless hits. What makes that even more interesting is that they're the complete antithesis of the formula that made up her previous massive hits.

"Kiss It Better" comes to mind first, which is truly one of her best songs ever. It captures the back and forth of a toxic relationship and the desperate pleading for a compromise and everything to be made right again. The electric guitar part is incredible and elevated it to a new level. "Man, fuck your pride" is such a bold and powerful lyric in the song too. It's confident and vulnerable, as so many of the best moments on this album are.

It also feels connected to other highlights of the album like "Needed Me" and "Love on the Brain", as well. The three of those songs together feel like the heart of the entire album. "Needed Me" is especially a classic and a defining moment of her career. "Tryna fix your inner issues with a bad birch, didn't they tell you that I was a savage?" she sings in the first pre-chorus. "Fuck your white horse and a carriage" is a cutting, unforgettable line that only she can pull off. "Love on the Brain" later brings such a raw mix of vocal textures and the orchestral elements make it sound even more timeless. It is so varied and expressive in such a unique way.

The avant‑garde alternative pop and rock elements she experiments with throughout Anti also shine through as some of the most important narrative moments on the album, marking a real expansion of her artistry. One of the clearest examples of that is "Desperado," which was co-written by BANKS and it is evident how strong her influence on the song was. "You need me, there ain't no leaving me behind," Rihanna sings in the first verse, followed by "If you want, we can be runaways, running from any sight of love...there ain't nothin' here for me anymore, but I don't wanna be alone."

The reinterpreted modern psych-rock classic "Same Ol' Mistakes" is another standout moment on the album. Originally written and performed by Tame Impala just a year earlier on his 2015 album Currents, it felt like such an interesting song to cover at the time, not only because it was so recent, but also because Rihanna's version stays largely exactly true to the original. However, this version can now be sort of interpreted as a feminine perspective on the meaning of the song, which gives it new dimension as well. Rihanna reportedly reached out saying she loved the song and wanted to cover it for Anti, and you can feel that in every part of her delivery. She even keeps Kevin Parker's backing vocals, which adds a dreamy, surrealistic layer to her version. This style of production is so different for her and if she were to ever return to music one day, a full album made in collaboration with him would be incredible.

On Currents, it closed the album under the title "New Person, Same Old Mistakes", and thematically it fits seamlessly into Anti. Wanting to grow but feeling pulled back by old habits and the frustration of not being able to fully let go is a theme that runs through both the song and the album as a whole. "And I know that it's hard to digest, a realization is as good as it gets and I know it seems wrong to accept, but you've got your demons, and she's got her regrets," she sings in the bridge. "But you've got your demons, and she's got her regrets". The final lyric, "Stop thinking you're the only option", fits so well with the entire album's theme.

Anti ends with the beautiful, soft ballad called "Close To You", which feels reminiscent of some of her past work, especially "Stay" from 2012. It's such a gentle sentiment to close the album on, one that is understated and intimate in a way that differs from much of the rest of the album.

It's the perfect final note for an album that was meant to be the complete antithesis of what everyone expected from her. Instead of chasing trends, she made something far more personal and timeless instead. In doing so, she created the defining album of her career and a project that continues to grow in influence with each passing year. Anti stands as a true testament to Rihanna's artistic instincts and enduring legacy that she has carved out for herself as a true music icon.