Last night, Rihanna, along with artist Roy Nachum, revealed the cover art to her eighth studio album at Los Angeles’ Mama gallery. The upcoming album we thought would be called R8, is actually entitled ANTi. In true Rihanna fashion, she blindsighted all of us with that one.
Designed by Nachum, the art depicts a young Rih (on her first day at daycare), whose eyes are covered with a gold crown, while she’s holding a black balloon. She’s against a red and white background. The message on the cover, written in Braille, is a poem by young, black poet, Chloe Mitchell. Rihanna says the poem is from her heart, but written in the words of Chloe, stemming from a conversation they had one night. She wanted it in Braille because “People who have sight are sometimes the people who are blindest,” she said to attendees last night. But don’t worry, the poem will be translated on the inside of the album cover.
See Rih reveal her album art and hear her explain the meaning behind it.
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The date hasn’t been announced yet, but Rihanna did alert us that it is “coming soon.”