Rihanna’s “Work” is Exactly What It Needs To Be: A New Rihanna Single
Rihanna’s new single, “Work” featuring Drake, is receiving mixed reviews today, and that’s understandable. After months of painstaking buildup—which didn’t just include a couple teases, but a full-fledged Samsung campaign that had a Fuse staffer sprinting through Manhattan with an ANTIdiaRy key on a December night—there was simply no way that “Work” was going to work for everyone. Sometimes a feverishly anticipated single or album lives up to the mountain of hype (hello, Adele), but more often than not, they fall short of the sky-high expectations, simply because they hover without soaring.
It will be interesting to see how the critics shrugging at “Work” today will view the song, say, six months from now, removed from its baggage as the first official single from the endlessly delayed ANTI. If you digested “Work” with the hope that it would be mind-blowing or revelatory… well, then you’re going to be bummed a little. If you went in to “Work” looking for a fun new Rihanna song, chances are that you’re still humming it a few hours later.
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