100 Best Albums
- 28 JAN 2016
- 16 Songs
- Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded · 2007
- Talk That Talk (Deluxe) · 2011
- Loud (Deluxe) · 2010
- Unapologetic (Deluxe Version) · 2012
- Loud (Deluxe) · 2010
- ANTI (Deluxe) · 2016
- Unapologetic (Deluxe Version) · 2012
- Talk That Talk (Deluxe) · 2011
- Recovery (Deluxe Edition) · 2010
- Unapologetic (Deluxe Version) · 2012
Essential Albums
- 100 Best Albums After giving the world a decade of nonstop hits, the big question for Rihanna was “What’s next?” Well, she was going to wait a little longer than expected to reveal the answer. Four years separated Unapologetic and her eighth album. But she didn’t completely escape from the spotlight during the mini hiatus. Rather, she experimented in real time by dropping one-off singles like the acoustic folk “FourFiveSeconds” collaboration with Kanye West and Paul McCartney, the patriotic ballad “American Oxygen” and the feisty “Bitch Better Have My Money”. The sonic direction she was going to land on for ANTI was still murky, but those songs were subtle hints nonetheless. When she officially unleashed ANTI to the world, it quickly became clear that this wasn’t the Rihanna we’d come to know from years past. In an unexpected twist, the singer tossed her own hit factory formula (which she polished to perfection since her 2005 debut) out the window. No, this was a freshly independent Rihanna who intentionally took time to dig deep. As the world was holding its breath awaiting the new album, she found a previously untapped part of her artistry. ANTI says it all in the title: The album is the complete antithesis of Pop Star Rihanna. From the abstract cover art (which features a poem written in braille) to newfound autonomy after leaving her long-time record label, Def Jam, to form her own, ANTI shattered all expectations of what a structured pop album should sound like—not only for her own standards, but also for fellow artists who wanted to demolish industry rules. And the risk worked in her favour: it became the singer’s second No. 1 LP. “I got to do things my own way, darling/Will you ever let me?/Will you ever respect me?” Rihanna mockingly asks on the opening track, “Consideration”. In response, the rest of the album dives headfirst into fearlessness where she doesn’t hesitate to get sensual, vulnerable and just a little weird. ANTI’s overarching theme is centred on relationships. Echoing Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope, Rihanna details the intricacies of love from all stages. Lead single “Work” is yet another flirtatious reunion with frequent collaborator Drake as they tease each other atop a steamy dancehall bassline. She spits vitriolic acid on the Travis Scott-produced “Woo”, taunting an ex-flame who walked away from her: “I bet she could never make you cry/’Cause the scars on your heart are still mine.” What’s most notable throughout ANTI is Rihanna’s vocal expansion, from her whisky-coated wails on the late-night voicemail that is “Higher” to breathing smoke on her re-recorded version of Tame Impala’s “New Person, Same Old Mistakes”. Yet the signature Rihanna DNA remained on the album. The singer proudly celebrated her Caribbean heritage on the aforementioned “Work”, presented women with yet another kiss-off anthem with “Needed Me” and flaunted her erotic side on deluxe track “Sex With Me”. Ever the sonic explorer, she also continued to uncover new genres by going full ’50s doo-wop on “Love on the Brain” and channelling Prince for the velvety ’80s power-pop ballad “Kiss It Better”. ANTI is not only Rihanna’s brilliant magnum opus, but it’s also a sincere declaration of freedom as she embraces her fully realised womanhood.
- After navigating a highly publicised dark period, Rihanna re-emerged as vibrant as ever with her fifth album. She told producers Stargate at the time of recording that she wanted to go back to having fun and making happy, uptempo records. The album’s unofficial theme is liberation, with the singer dyeing her hair a striking red that perfectly embodied the attention-grabbing energy that catapulted her into full-fledged pop-star status with unshakeable international dominance. The LP spawned seven singles, three of which topped the charts both Stateside and overseas as party anthems: “Only Girl (In the World)”, “What’s My Name?” and “S&M”. Rihanna wasn’t new to crafting dance-driven hits (see 2006’s “SOS” and 2007’s “Don’t Stop the Music”). But it was Loud that confirmed just how easily she could rule any genre she experimented with. “Only Girl (In the World)”, the album’s lead single, sets the tone thanks to its pulsating bassline and throbbing synths that defined the 2010s EDM revival. Marking her first time dipping into the genre, Rihanna demands the spotlight with full-on belts, showcasing some of her most commanding vocals to date. Naturally, the bigger-is-better approach worked in the singer’s favour: “Only Girl (In the World)” soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The party continues with “Cheers (Drink to That)”, which revs up an Avril Lavigne “I’m With You” sample into a downright fun late-night sing-along, while “Raining Men”, alongside Nicki Minaj, finds the ladies having fun using potential suitors as toys. Loud is a kaleidoscopic reflection of Rihanna’s personality, spiralling from cheeky to vulnerable to unabashedly taboo. The ferocious “S&M” is filled to the brim with “na-na-na, come on!” come-hither chants and sexually suggestive lyrics as the singer explores the world of bondage and fetishes. Not one to take herself too seriously, though, the bedroom anthem winks with playfulness. “Sticks and stones may break my bones/But chains and whips excite me,” she growls atop Hi-NRG production dotted with fuzzy keyboard riffs. The confidence continues with “Skin”, one of Rihanna’s most alluring tunes, as she seductively purrs over a beat that fuses R&B with languid trip-hop. While Loud may be a more pop-leaning record, Rihanna continues to celebrate her Bajan roots, injecting tropical doses on the dancehall-tinged “What’s My Name?” Featuring frequent collaborator Drake, the chart-topper highlights the pair’s palpable chemistry as they trade flirtatious pickup lines: “The square root of 69 is eight somethin’, right?/’Cause I’ve been tryna work it out.” “Man Down” is deeply rooted in Caribbean reggae, as Rihanna details a vengeful tale of being on the run after pulling the trigger, echoing the suspenseful style of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1973 single “I Shot The Sheriff”. Threaded throughout the album are ballads centred on love’s ebbs and flows: the Enya-sampling “Fading” is a lightweight R&B midtempo where Rihanna moves on from an inconsistent lover; “California King Bed” is a heartbreaking power ballad as the singer desperately tries to save a relationship that’s growing more distant by the minute. The album closer “Love the Way You Lie, Pt. II” with Eminem, the sequel to the rapper’s hit single, tells Rihanna’s side of a broken love story over a tearful piano melody. Loud set off Rihanna’s pop explosion, and she’s remained music’s most fun party girl ever since.
- Since 2005, this dance pop innovator has made us beg for more.
- Studio versions of the songs from Rihanna’s Halftime Show.
- A set of culture-shifting dance anthems.
- RiRi at her most empowered and unapologetic.
- Party tracks with a Caribbean spin.
- The pop star we thought we knew was gone.
- The record that proved Rihanna’s musical style is limitless.
- Rihanna joins Nadeska ahead of her Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show.
- Dotty explores Rihanna's unconventional and infectious, 'ANTI.'
- Jayde revisits Rihanna's supercharged seventh album.
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About Rihanna
A report card for Robyn Rihanna Fenty, first issued by a school back in Barbados’ Saint Michael parish and later reprinted in a giant coffee-table book called RIHANNA, stated, in part, that the young Fenty was positive, sure of herself. She took a leading role in group activities. Most of all, she had ideas and seemed comfortable expressing them. Fast-forward to the present day and there remains something effortless about Rihanna, a sense of confidence that transcends any one narrative or style. Though her biggest tracks have tended toward some variety of dance pop (mixed with reggae, EDM, dancehall, R&B and so on), a closer listen reveals an artist willing to try just about anything—and the uncanny grace to sound good doing it. Describing the chameleonic nature of her clothing line, Fenty—the first female-created brand for LVMH, not to mention its first luxury label run by a black woman—Rihanna said the line didn’t have any fixed look, in part because her own was always changing. She was making things up as she went along, but when she went, she went full-steam ahead. Born in Barbados in 1988, she left high school to pursue music. Her 2005 debut, Music of the Sun, went Gold when she was just 17. By 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad, she’d expanded the sunny Caribbean pop of her early work for sleek hybrids of hip-hop, R&B, club music and rock. The tracks were inescapable—“Umbrella”, “Don’t Stop the Music”, “Rude Boy”, “Work”—but also had genuine personality, not to mention a carnal sense of expressiveness that set her apart: Rihanna’s changes didn’t seem like the product of high-concept self-reinvention so much as gut feeling. After leaving Def Jam in 2014 for a spot with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, she took greater creative control for 2016’s ANTI, her most diverse album yet. In 2023, Rihanna became the first artist to headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, performing while pregnant with her second child.
- HOMETOWN
- Saint Michael, Barbados
- BORN
- 20 February 1988
- GENRE
- Pop