Rihanna surprise releases long-awaited album in streaming exclusive

NEW YORK — R&B superstar Rihanna yesterday (Jan 27) released her long-awaited eighth album Anti as she offered exclusive early access through commercial tie-ups.

Anti, Rihanna's first album since 2012, had been announced late last year but the timing of the release was a surprise and came hours after she put out the first single.

Tidal, the streaming service led by rap mogul Jay Z in which Rihanna is a partner, premiered Anti and said it would not appear elsewhere for the first week.

Rihanna signed a deal reported to be worth US$25 million (S$35.7 million) with South Korean electronics giant Samsung, which set up an Anti interactive website accessible on its smartphones.

Tidal said that Samsung users who used the website would be able to download Anti and receive a two-month free trial of the streaming service.

The release marks the latest effort by an upstart streaming companies to challenge the dominance of streaming leader Spotify through exclusive releases.

Prince put out his two last albums on Tidal while pop superstar Taylor Swift released a tour video only on Apple Music.

Streaming services, which offer on-demand access online, have grown rapidly in recent years and become a key part of the music industry's commercial strategies.

She yesterday released a single featuring leading rapper Drake. Entitled Work, the song is set to tropical house, the light-feeling electronic genre that has become increasingly popular in the past year.

The song returns to Rihanna’s familiar theme of feeling taken advantage of in a relationship, while Drake in his verse raps of his struggle finding intimacy.

Rihanna wrote on Twitter that the song was the first single off her upcoming album Anti, even though a year ago she released a collaboration with Paul McCartney and Kanye West that was widely seen as the initial track.

The Barbados-born singer quickly became one of the 21st century’s top-selling artists after releasing her debut album in 2005. AFP