Artist and occasional bomb dropper Rihanna has been hard at work on her eigth album and details for the upcoming effort have been severely scarce. Last week the Barbados beauty revealed the album art and title during a private showing in downtown Los Angeles. This reveal has me thinking this album could be Riri’s most deep and mature release yet.

Roy Nachum collaborated with Rihanna on the piece and I remember being thrown at the depth of the artwork. A young Riri is placed in front of a braille background (which is a poem by Chloe Mitchell), with her eyes covered by a crown too big for her head and effects that almost look 3-D. During an interview with the Inquisitr Nahum revealed some insight on the motivation behind Anti’s album art:

“The black balloon featured on Anti‘s album art is a metaphor for escaping reality, since balloons are “lighter than air.”

“Rihanna captures the idea of wanting to escape from reality in the new album.”

Read the rest of the piece: HERE

Knowing the amount of time and effort Rihanna has put on the album art alone has me excited for the release. With Kanye West being at the helm of the record as executive producer and three releases that have showcased how much Rihanna’s creativity has grown over the years, Anti seems to be the album that will define her as an artist. People are quick to discredit artists that don’t write their own music or have a machine behind them but you can’t overlook an artist completely in control of the direction of their music.

When Rihanna dropped Unapologetic in 2012, she could have easily gone back into the studio for a couple months and crafted a couple of hits to keep her name high on the Billboard charts that next year but she broke that cycle. An artist known for her consistent singles, being a part of the influential group of artists creating the trend, she took her time with this record.

When “Four Five Seconds” dropped at the beginning of this year, the world was introduced to a new sound from Rihanna. The pop synths and rhythmic beats were traded in for minimal production and Paul McCartney. “Four Five Seconds” became a success and showed a side of Rihanna that she doesn’t always show to the world. Those raw vocals and commanding emotion resonated with me when I first heard the song and I expect Anti to be even more powerful.

Rihanna has been noted to wanting to create timeless music and I have a feeling Anti will be that record for her. I’m not breaking any news that you guys don’t already know but I just wanted to write about my excitement for an artist that feels truly inspired and ready to add another layer to her huge career. There’s sadly still no release date but Riri did let her navy know that the album is done and more details are to come very soon.

Let’s hope the album comes before this year comes to an end and Anti was worth the wait.