Anti
This is the album cover from Rhianna's iconic ANTI album that was released on January 28, 2016.
Characterized by its deep and brooding, hip-hop, R&B, and dancehall sound, it was and still is a hit among her fans; it has put Rhianna down in history as the first black female artist to spend 200 weeks on the Billboard 200 list, even after she hasn't produced any music since.
The album explores themes of personal growth and acceptance, toxic relationships, betrayal, reconciliation among other things.
Roy Nachum
The artist behind the incredible cover art for the ANTI album is Roy Nachum. An Isreal born artist, this was his first work with a musician for an album cover. However, he kept in line with his own personal work.
Nachum is the artist behind a beautiful series entitled "Blind". He makes works of art that are usually in monochrome with splashes of color and often with the iconic crown covering the subject's eyes, as it does in If They Let Us, Part I - the name of the work used as Rhianna's album cover. He often used brail on his works, as well as handprints or other marks made by blind participants as well. As a whole, this series is meant to reconceptualize how people who are visually impaired experience and participate in art, compared to but not wholly alien to how those without impairment do. It is meant to explore the "concepts of inner and outer vision and the metaphor of “opening” viewers’ eyes."
Connection to the album
If They Let Us, Part I is as much a continuation of his series as it is a representation of the album. The work is an image of a young Rhianna holding a balloon. As the artist mentioned in an interview with Vanity Fair “Sometimes we’re running in the world of today but we’re running after achievement, after achievement,” he said. “The crown is oversized and covering what we’re supposed to see. We can’t see the success.”. Rhianna wanted this album to explore and accept whom she had become as an artist and a person. She wanted to create different music that "she could perform 15 years later".
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As I see it, the album cover has multiple meanings. On the one hand, it has a powerful message about the blindness that success can bring and the naivety that can also blind someone once they gain that success, though they may not see their own success. The crown and the red wash both symbolize power and ambition, while the child with a balloon - a young and yet-to-be famous Robyn Rihanna Fenty - represents the possibilities and naivety that come with being young. On another level, it also plays into the themes that are present throughout the songs on this album.
Personal growth and acceptance, toxic relationships, betrayal, reconciliation; this one image can represent all these themes. Each element can represent something; being a child and growing up and accepting who you are and what you will become; being blind to your own toxic relationship and to a betrayal till you take a step back; the anger, violence, sincerity, passion and love that are present in those aspects. Even the brail poem can be interpreted as needing another way of perceiving things to finally accepting something, which is always the first step towards redemption and reconciliation.
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A good example of the themes, as well as the cover art, would be the first song, on the album: Consideration. A song with a simple rhythmic beat and that's centered on the vocals of both Rhianna and her featured artists SZA, it is a song that speaks of - one would have to assume - a woman who is in a controlling relationship where she has little to no freedom.
Throughout the video, images that mirror the album cover can be seen. From the brail that can be viewed on the phone screen towards the beginning; the brail dots on the stern-looking woman face before Rhianna goes through the black liquid wall; on the crown, and then finally on the mans forehead, to the little girl with a crown covering her eyes.
The theme of toxic relationships is especially apparent in this video. Rhianna has no freedom; she stays in a cage-like room till she leaves and is greeted by pushy maids and a matron. The relationship seems rather strained between Rhianna and the other woman, and is confirmed when the matron grabs onto the key that is attached to the necklace around Rhianna's neck; a clear sign of dominance and ownership over her.
The lyrics themselves also demonstrate the constraints that surround her existence in the relationship she is singing about.
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From these lyrics, one can see that the person singing is feeling pain and feels the need to grow but their oppressor is not allowing that. These are traits of a toxic relationship; one partner controls the other by making them feel pain, whether physical, mental, or emotional, and by alienating them from others and even themselves.
Anti cover art by Roy Nachum
My reaction and connection
I love Rhianna and like many of her fans, I absolutely adore this album. It came out during a rather rough time in my life and even if I could not identify with some of what was being said in the songs, the overall mood was similar to mine of time and so it comforted me; especially knowing that it was someone from the islands - Rhianna is Barbadian and I am half Trinidadian - created a sort of weird connection for me. The simple yet profound beats and lyrics spoke to me and made me feel better, especially after singing along and they still do.
I was also always fascinated by the cover art but never put the two together till I did a bit of research. I came to understand the meaning both musically and artistically of the cover art through this project. It is a beautiful piece on its own, but it adds and receives more meaning when put together with the album and its songs.
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All in all, I find both the cover art as well as the album itself to be beautiful works of art that should be appreciated separately and together. Only by doing both can you derive your own meaning and understand the intended meaning more deeply.
Work cited
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“Anti (Album).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 May 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_(album)#:~:text=Rihanna%20continued%20to%20state%20that,could%20perform%2015%20years%20later.
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“If(Typeof __ez_fad_position != 'Undefined'){__ez_fad_position('Div-Gpt-Ad-incredibleart_org-Box-2-0')};Color Symbolism and Culture.” Symbolism of Color: Using Color for Meaning, www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm.
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Mackenzie, Alexis Jones and Macaela. “Not Having 'Me Time' Is A Pretty Sure Sign You're In A Toxic Relationship.” Women's Health, 22 Oct. 2019, www.womenshealthmag.com/relationships/a19739065/signs-of-toxic-relationship/.
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Rolli, Bryan. “Rihanna's 'Anti' Is The First Album By A Black Female Artist To Spend 200 Weeks On The Billboard 200.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 4 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrolli/2019/12/04/rihannas-anti-is-the-first-album-by-a-black-female-artist-to-spend-200-weeks-on-the-billboard-200/?sh=1e70b3f938f4.
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“Roy Nachum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Nachum.
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Smith, Da'Shan. “Anti: When Rihanna Rejected The Pop Paradigm: UDiscover.” UDiscover Music, UDiscover Music, 28 Jan. 2021, www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/rihanna-anti-album/.
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Taylor, Elise. “The Artist Behind Rihanna's Anti Cover Explains What It Means.” Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair, 3 Nov. 2015, www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/rihanna-anti-cover-what-it-means-roy-nachum.
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Yatzer. “Visual Art for the Visually Impaired by Roy Nachum.” Yatzer, 18 Aug. 2015, www.yatzer.com/visual-art-visually-impaired-roy-nachum.