New Rihanna And Kanye West Albums Excite Fans And Anger Critics

Rihanna and Drake are two of the hottest music acts of the past 10 years. Their most recent albums were supposed to be released in 2016, but poor reception of their singles caused both works to be delayed.

Rihanna’s album Anti is scheduled to be released in February. According to Idolator, the first single will be a collaboration with Drake and a video was just filmed.

“On January 8, Rihanna landed in Los Angeles amid rumors that she was filming a music video there. An alleged casting call said that the January 8 and 9 shoot was for a Drake collaboration titled ‘Work,’ to feature actors playing horseback riders and cops.”

As The Inquisitr reported, snippets of the track have appeared on Twitter. Fans are very excited for the collaboration.

I can't wait to listening 'Work' @rihanna @Drake so excited omg

— (@workrihanna) January 10, 2016

Who else is excited? #Rihanna and #drake are said to be filming a new video #Work … "Rihanna e Drake"

— Michelle O Faith (@MichelleOFaith1) January 10, 2016

Some consider the duet with Drake to be a desperate move for Rihanna as her latest singles “American Oxygen” and “B***h Better Have have My Money” have failed to take off on the charts and mainstream radio. “American Oxygen,” in particular, only peaked at No. 78 on Billboard‘s Hot 100.

Kanye West, like Rihanna has also had a difficult time scoring a hit. Mr. West has been experiencing a career downslide ever since his album Yeezus underperformed. In 2013, Billboard talked about the album’s huge drop in sales.

“Last week’s No. 1, Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus,’ falls by 80% to No. 3 — the largest second-week percentage drop for a No. 1-debuting album in over a year. It sold 65,000 in its sophomore frame. A week ago it bowed with 327,000.”

However, fans are very excited about the release of SWISH on February 11. On January 1, Kanye unleashed the song “Facts” and it received mixed reviews. However, Rolling Stone seemed to really like the song.

“West blends current events with clever punchlines on the Metro Boomin- and Southside-produced track. In between ripping Nike and rhyming, ‘Does anybody feel bad for Bill Cosby?’, the rapper drops deft lines like, ‘I stick to my Roots like I’m Jimmy Fallon.'”

Unfortunately, the commenters underneath the article disagreed with the writer.

“Holy cow. This man is so cringeworthy,” said “The Good Guy.”

“Cheezy is a legend in his own mind,” said Maximus.

Twitter is a lot more positive about Kanye West’s new music.

Meanwhile, Kanye West appeared on American Idol this week. Unfortunately, the reception wasn’t great. Wired criticized Kanye West for his appearance.

“Apparently, Kanye West has fallen on hard times. He’d been reduced to auditioning for reality shows, as America saw this week…As a ratings stunt, it didn’t really work; the episode turned out to be the lowest-rated opener in the show’s history.”

Both Kanye West and Rihanna are facing a music industry that loves to build up superstars and then clobber them down. Some superstars, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, and even Britney Spears can ride past the backlash. Let’s hope that Kanye West and Rihanna can do the same.

[Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images]