INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Rihanna’s ‘Anti’ Album Rumored To Drop This Week, But What About Drake’s ‘Views From The 6’?

By Noel Zelindo
Published on: 04:37 PST, Jan 27, 2016

Rihanna and Drake surprised fans with the release of their highly anticipated new collaboration, “Work,” on Wednesday, but when can fans expect the duo to release their new albums?

Rumors surrounding a release date for Rihanna’s eighth studio album, Anti, and Drake’s fourth studio album, Views From the 6, have been circulating since last year despite little news from either artist regarding a tentative drop date for their projects.

Now, with Rihanna having confirmed that her upcoming album is finally finished and Drake dropping some not-so-subtle hints about his own plans for Views From the 6 on Instagram, it appears that fans may be getting both artists’ albums sooner than anticipated.

Earlier this week, Rihanna took to Instagram to share a photo of herself listening to the finalized version of Anti while donning a nearly $9,000 pair of golden headphones. While Rihanna has yet to respond to rumors suggesting that Anti will be available before the start of her “Anti World Tour” next month, sources close to Rihanna are alleging that the album could drop as early as this week.

According to Billboard, who correctly predicted the surprise release of Rihanna and Drake’s new single, sources close to Rihanna reveal that Anti will arrive sometime this week and will most likely drop “as a surprise release before Friday.”

The source goes on to admit that Samsung, who is sponsoring the rollout of Rihanna’s new album and its subsequent tour, began to grow “anxious” over the continued delay of Anti’s release given the scheduled start date of the “Anti World Tour” beginning on February 26.

With Anti’s release date seemingly in sight, rumors are now suggesting that Rihanna’s new album may arrive exclusively on Tidal for its first week before opening up to a full retail release the following week. While it’s unclear how an exclusive Tidal release may impact Anti’s first-week sales, Tidal did make Rihanna and Drake’s new track “Work” available for streaming for free on their homepage.

Drake and Rihanna rumored to perform at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

As for Drake’s highly anticipated Views From the 6, the latest rumors suggest that the “Hotline Bling” rapper will drop his new album in February despite previously hinting at a January release date in his track “30 for 30 Freestyle.”

Drake seemingly shut down fans’ hopes of a January release for Views after he took to Instagram last week to share several photos of himself and producer Noah “40” Shebib working together in the recording studio.

With Drake’s new album seemingly unfinished, several outlets have reported that a February release date for Views From the 6 is likely given the number of artists who are rumored to release new music during the same month.

Kanye West previously announced that his long-awaited album WAVES, previously titled SWISH, will be available on February 11 amid rumors that Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are planning to drop their collaborative mixtape in February as well.

Complex alleges that given Drake and Kanye West’s tendency to compete with one another in new music releases, it’s possible that Drake is holding out until February to drop Views around the same time as West’s impending album.

The site further notes that with New York Fashion Week, All-Star Weekend, the Grammys, and the one-year anniversary of Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late mixtape occurring around the same time as West’s album drop next month, Drake may be planning to release Views the weekend of February 13.

While fans continue to await any news from Drake regarding the status of his new album, it seems that we’ll just have to keep “Work” on repeat until February.

When do you think Rihanna and Drake will drop their new albums?

[Photos by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

Share this article: Rihanna’s ‘Anti’ Album Rumored To Drop This Week, But What About Drake’s ‘Views From The 6’?
rihanna drake
More from Inquisitr