Report: Rihanna Will Release 'ANTI' This Week
The wait may finally be over. After months of anticipation and speculation, Rihanna will reportedly release her long-awaited album ANTI this week.
Sources tell Billboard that the singer’s eighth album will likely arrive as a surprise release before Friday (Jan. 29).
ANTI was initially planned for May or June, but has been repeatedly delayed. However, earlier this week Rihanna hinted that the album was finally done, tweeting “listening to ANTI” alongside a photo of herself listening to $9,000 Dolce & Gabbana headphones.
listening to ANTI 🎈 pic.twitter.com/AgqlhU0GEz
— Rihanna (@rihanna) January 25, 2016
She is set to kick off her “ANTI World Tour” on Feb. 26. According to Billboard, there was concern that she might postpone the opening dates in order to complete the album, or possibly scrap the entire project and start over.
Her new single “Work,” which reportedly features Drake, is expected to premiere Wednesday at 8 a.m. EST. She shot a video for the song earlier this month in Los Angeles.
. @rihanna has a BRAND NEW SINGLE and @shoboyshow is WORLD PREMIERING it tomorrow at 8am! Listen here: https://t.co/erxcM3u7Dn
— The New 923 AMPRadio (@923amp) January 27, 2016
Rihanna has been building anticipation for ANTI through her $25 million campaign with Samsung. In November, she launched her ANTIdiaRy experience, which leads fans to a series of locked rooms on their mobile devices. Since then, she has released seven promotional videos with the latest video posted on Jan. 4. However, there is one video left in the series, likely to coincide with the album release.
It’s been over three years since Rihanna’s last album, 2012’s Unapologetic, the largest gap between albums in her career.