Rihanna Reveals WhyAntiIs Her Only Album She Listens to with 'No Shame': 'I Can Have an Out-of-Body Experience'

Mar. 15, 2025

Rihanna.Photo:LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ

LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ

Rihanna’s favorite of her own albums is probably the same as yours.

In a newHarper’s Bazaarcover story interview, the musician and business mogul revealed the only album she listens to from her own catalog — and it’sAnti,released in 2016.

“I listen toAntifrom top to bottom with no shame,” she said of her chart-topping eighth studio album, which spawned major hits including “Work,” “Needed Me” and “Love on the Brain.”

Rihanna.LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“I used to always have shame,” explained Rihanna. “I actually don’t like listening to my music, butAnti—I can listen to the album.”

The Grammy winner detailed, “It’s not me singing it, if I’m just listening to it. That’s the one album that I can have an out-of-body experience where it’s not like … You know when you hear your voice in a voicemail, and it’s like, ‘Ugh.’”

Anticame out in January 2016 and featured collaborations withDrakeandSZA. The album received six nominations at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

Rihanna told the outletAntiis inspiring the direction of her long-awaited ninth studio album. “I think music is my freedom. I just came to that realization. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work,” she said.

The “Bitch Better Have My Money” performerteased the upcoming albumhas “no genre” at the moment before explaining why she’s “waited” so long to share new music with fans.

She continued, “After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait.”

“I cannot put up anything mediocre,” declared Rihanna. “After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”

source: people.com