Official Title for Rihanna's New Album Revealed; Cover Artwork For 'Anti' Unleashed in a Los Angeles Gallery
After her 2012 LP, Rihanna will be releasing a full new album. And it might just be around the corner, Billboard noted.
Rihanna's upcoming album will officially be called "Anti," Time reported. The album cover's artwork was designed by an Israeli artist, Roy Nacchum, who lives in New York.
"He sees things beyond the surface, which is why we even decided to collaborate," Rihanna introduced the artist, according to Rolling Stone. "It felt like there was another spirit, another layer to the art."
"After we met, we talked about what I wanted visually, what would make me the happiest girl in the world," she continued.
The grand reveal for the artwork happened on Oct. 7 at Mama Gallery in Los Angeles during an invite-only event. "This is my favorite album cover I've ever done," Rihanna shared.
"The cover features an image of a young Rihanna holding a black balloon, with a gold crown covering her eyes. Over the red-and-white canvas cover, a poem written by Chloe Mitchell is written in Braille," Billboard described.
"This is me as a little girl. I brought this one to him and he really reinterpreted it his own way with exactly the message that I wanted," Rihanna explained.
Two of the guests present in the cover launch event were Nick Jonas and O'Shea Jackson Jr. from "Straight Outta Compton." "How am I not going to come to a party that got Rihanna on it?" Jackson told Rolling Stone.
Hollywood Life also reported that another artwork was revealed, which seemed to be a screenshot of the word "anti" from the dictionary. After the definition, a message read, "In her collaboration with Roy Nachum, Rihanna has changed the history of album art. By continuing to follow her own instincts, her work strives to make an impact by doing the very antithesis of what the public expects."
There's no official release date set yet for Rihanna's new album but according to the "B*tch Better Have My Money" singer's post on her official Instagram account, it is "coming soon." Rihanna also shared photos depicting the front cover and back cover versions of her upcoming album
Three singles are already expected to be part of Rihanna's new album. One of these is "FourFiveSeconds," a collaboration work with Paul McCartney and Kanye West, which became No. 4 on Billboard Hot 100.
"Bitch Better Have My Money," written by Rihanna herself together with Badrilla Bourelly, Jamille Pierre and Travis Scott, climbed to 15th spot. Meanwhile, "American Oxygen," her most recent single recorded for the upcoming eight album, was released through the streaming service Tidal owned by Jay Z.