Rihanna Still Not Finished With ‘Anti’? Fans Freak After Seeing Photo Of ‘BBHMM’ Singer In Studio
Rihanna may be keeping fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of her eighth studio album, Anti, but has Rihanna even finished recording new music for the highly-anticipated project?
Despite having already announced official tour dates for her #ANTIWorldTour and rolling out the beginning stages of her promotional campaign with Samsung in anticipation of Anti‘s release, new rumors are suggesting that Rihanna may not even be finished recording her new album.
Similarly, songwriter Kuk Harrell, who has worked alongside Rihanna in the past, shared a photo of himself in the recording studio around the same time that Rosales posted her photo on Instagram, further solidifying fans’ fears that Rihanna’s album has yet to be completed despite the tour being just months away.
Not long after the duo’s photos were posted, fans took to Instagram and Twitter to angrily express their frustration with the delay of Rihanna’s Anti album.
One fan writes, “Rihanna is still in the f***ing studio ANTI better have like 500 songs.” Another fan adds, “Rihanna is still on the studio. I told yall she was also using this ANTIdiaRy/Scavenger Hunt to gain time.”
While it’s unclear if Rihanna was actually in the studio to finish work on Anti, it appears fans are growing more impatient with Rihanna regarding the lack of news about her album.
WAIT. So Rihanna is: ? In the middle of a convoluted viral ad campaign for her album ? About to go on a WORLD tour ?? STILL IN THE STUDIO
— – ??festive ??-abbie (@abbiewastaken) December 5, 2015
It was heavily rumored that Anti would see a full retail release on December 4; however, no new music nor news from Rihanna regarding the album’s release appeared online yesterday much to the dismay of eager fans. Similarly, rumors also suggested that Rihanna would exclusively release Anti via Jay Z’s TIDAL music streaming service on Black Friday, but those rumors proved to be false, as well.
While Rihanna continues to keep mum regarding a release date for Anti, it doesn’t appear that the continued delay of her new album is impacting her tour sales or overall popularity with fans.
On Thursday, Forbes reported that the average ticket price for Rihanna’s “ANTI World Tour” remains above the $200 mark despite having not released Anti prior to announcing her tour.
Similarly, the site published another article on Tuesday claiming that Rihanna remains Spotify’s most streamed female artist in the world for 2015 despite having only released new singles like “American Oxygen,” “FourFiveSeconds,” and “B**** Better Have my Money” this year.
Benjamin Cockerell explained to the site that while fans seem to be frustrated with the lack of new music from Rihanna, the mystery surrounding her Anti record appears to be boosting Rihanna’s popularity.
“Looking at the social conversation surrounding ANTI and Rihanna, we can see that any mystery surrounding the album release date has not stopped fans from expressing their loyalty, excitement and importantly, buying tickets for the ANTI World Tour,” Cockerell explains.
According to Crimson Hexagon’s report, the social media buzz surrounding Rihanna’s Anti album remains 33 percent positive and only 1 percent negative, with the majority of fans remaining neutral at 66 percent.
“It’s a testament to Rihanna’s influence,” Cockerell concludes, “She’s able to generate so much excitement among fans about the tour before they’ve listened to the album.”
When do you think we will see Rihanna release her Anti album?
[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]
