What’s Rihanna Up To?
By Brenda Barbour
What’s the renowned Bajan vixen up to these days? Rihanna has finally released her much anticipated album “Anti”. It’s been three years since her last release and her fans are hungry for a Rihanna fix, especially after those teases from Bitch Better Have My Money and FourFiveSeconds with Kanye West and Paul McCartney and finally in the release of American Oxygen in April 2015. All were chart toppers and they only made us miss her music even more.
We’ve been waiting and now the wait is over. Anti is finally here. Tidal.com proposed the release of the album before it was ready, so the release date was moved up. Thank You Tidal.com, the album was released January 27th, 2016. Who knows how long we would have waited, if it wasn’t for that mistake. Three new tracks will be released on Friday January 29th, 2016 exclusively onTidal.com, a high fidelity music, video and news website, of which Rihanna has a partial ownership.
She has some glimpses into the Anti album playing on Youtube.com. These mini videos are sponsored by Samsung and are full of colorful imagery with a dramatic sound track. Rihanna unveiled the artwork for the “Anti” album painted by Roy Nachum at the MAMA Gallery in LA on October, 7th 2015. The art consists of a partially nude image of Rihanna when she was a child. A gold crown appears over her eyes and a balloon is secured to her wrists. On top of the artwork Braille letters appear with a poem by Chloe Mitchell.
Rihanna said this about the Braille addition, “The whole idea behind the Braille is that people who have sight are sometimes the people who are blindest.” The poem “If They Let Us” reads,
“I sometimes fear that I am misunderstood.
It is simply because what I want to say,
What I need to say, won’t be heard.
Heard in a way I so rightfully deserve…
My voice is my suit and armor,
My shield, and all that I am.
I will comfortably breathe in it,
Until I find the moment to be silent.
…So being misunderstood,
I am not offended by the gesture, but honored.
If they let us…”
It’s a beautiful poem and I’m sure the “Anti” album will satiate our Rihanna cravings, if this poem is anything like the lyrics of Rihanna’s music.