Rihanna’s ‘ANTI’ 2015: A Timeline Of The Singer’s Most Confusing Year Yet

Bianca Gracie | December 4, 2015 10:00 am

April 21, 2015: Rihanna poses for magazine’s Summer issue

April 21, 2015: The artist shares “James Joint” interlude

Rihanna dropped the seductive tune on 4/20 (her favorite holiday, of course) and called it one of her favorites off the album.

May 1, 2015: I publish my piece on trying to decipher what’s really going on with #R8
I summed it with this: “With this new era, it is clear that Rihanna has too many yes men around her (Kanye West included — don’t think we forgot). Sure, she is at the point in her career where she can take creative control (that is what Tidal is claiming…right?). Yet there should be a person on her team to keep her on track and says, “No, this is how we are going to do things!'”

May 13, 2015: Rihanna’s Dior Secret Garden campaign arrives

May 17, 2015: Rihanna performs on Saturday Night Live‘s 40th season finale
The singer was the perfect choice to close out the season, as she isn’t a stranger to the SNL stage.

July 2, 2015: Rihanna drops her “BBHMM” video
The bloody and totally badass visual proved to be one of the Bad Gal’s best to date. Hope is restored!

July 8, 2015: Natalia Kills reveals she wrote “Kiss It Better”
“I’ve been writing songs for other projects… it’s been a pleasure working with Madonna, Rihanna and the incredible producers,” she said on Twitter.

July 10, 2015: Rihanna reportedly turns to Timbaland for music help
RiRi was spotted arriving at the hitmaker’s New York studio at 2 a.m.

July 16, 2015: Rihanna launches a sock collection
Yes, the singer partnered with Stance to design her own…socks.

August 13, 2015: Rihanna joins The Voice as key advisor
Despite the rollercoaster of on-and-off promotion, this news seemed to be a step in the right direction — which raised questions of if the album was truly on its way.

August 20, 2015: Diplo reveals Rihanna and Nicki Minaj turned down the megahit, “Lean On”
The producer called the decision a “blessing in disguise.” And he was right, as “Lean On” became the most streamed song on Spotify this year.

September 17, 2015: Rihanna covers NME, talks #R8 delay
“To me it’s never done until it’s done. Until the final moment,” she told the magazine. “No matter what I post online, within three comments there’s somebody saying, ‘Where is ‘R8’?’ I could post anything. Nothing else matters. They don’t care about anything but that. But it makes me excited, because I can’t wait to give them something great.”

September 26, 2015: The singer performs at Rock In Rio
Despite not performing any new songs, Rihanna without question ruled the stage and sounded great!

September 29, 2015: Rihanna covers the FADER‘s 100th issue
For such a major cover, one would assume the singer would give an interview. But she seems to be taking the Beyonce route.

September 29, 2015: The singer also performs in Santiago, Chile
This newfound promotion is surprising! But don’t get too excited — there are still no album details.

October 1, 2015: I gather all of Rihanna’s best model moments of 2015
The pop star had a ton of stunning editorials to choose from over the past few months. She sure had a lot of time on her hands!