September 30, 2016
Def Jam
2xLP
All it took was a pregnant Super Bowl performance for one of the most prominent figures in pop history to receive a shamefully warranted repress. It's not as if there's been a lack of interest, it's not as if Rihanna has strayed far from the public eye. Sure, she hasn't released an album in a while, but neither has Led Zeppelin and we sell their stuff all the time. Her catalogue soundtracks the in-between moments of at least a generation, filling the gaps between classes, practice, on joy rides, during mall strolls, junior-high dances, house parties, booming from patios and passing cars. There's a fine distinction between inescapable and ubiquitous. Rihanna is firmly the latter; she's too savvy, too talented to be the former. The former could not have crafted some of the most enduring ear-worms of the last 30 years or Anti, one of the most brilliant pop records of the 2010's. She never went away, but we're still glad she's back.