Rihanna hit #1 with Anti

Anti Rihanna

Released: January 27, 2016 Peak: 12 US, 14 RB, 7 UK, 11 CN, 5 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.3 UK, 3.75 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Consideration (with SZA) (2/20/16, 38 RB, 88 UK) James Joint Kiss It Better (2/20/16, 62 US, 21 RB, 46 UK, 48 AU) Work (with Drake) (1/27/16, 1 US, 9 RR, 1 RB, 2 UK, 1 CN, 5 AU) Desperado (2/27/16, 36 RB) Woo Needed Me (2/20/16, 7 US, 1 RB, 38 UK, 25 CN, 44 AU) Yeah, I Said It (2/27/16, 41 RB) Same Ol’ Mistakes Never Ending Love on the Brain (6/11/16, 5 US, 9 AC, 7 A40, 3 RB, 22 CN) Higher Total Running Time: 43:36

Rating: 3.572 out of 5.00 (average of 31 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Anti “began in the autumn of 2014 and proceeded in semi-public, progress being measured in Instagram posts and tweets, along with intermittent singles, each released to white-hot anticipation but none metamorphosing into massive hits.” AMG However, when the album was released, it didn’t have any of the singles released from 2015, which included “Four Five Seconds” with Kanye West and Paul McCartney and “Bitch Better Have My Money.” Neither “functioned as appropriate anchors for the album,” AMG which would be Rihanna’s first release “to feel constructed as a front-to-back album.” AMG After predecessors “where album cuts often felt like afterthoughts” AMG this made Anti “an ambitious album-statement” RS’20 “whose heart lies within its deep cuts.” RS’20 “On Anti, she recast pop as her own hazy playground, referencing Dido and hair metal, covering Tame Impala, and merging dancehall and torch ballads.” RS’20 “Mood matters more than either hooks or rhythm: it’s a subdued, simmering affair,” AMG “brilliantly sustaining the tipsy two-in-the-morning vibe of this moody midcareer reinvention.” RS’20 Rihanna said, “I just gravitated toward the songs that were … the things I want to listen to…The things that I want to smoke to.” RS’20 The songs are “subtly shaded yet interlocked to create a vibe caught halfway between heartbreak and ennui. The latter has always been a specialty of Rihanna – her distance from her material was at once appealing and alienating – so hearing her lean into Love on the Brain and Higher is something of a revelation: her voice is hoarse and ravaged, yet she’s also controlled and precise, knowing how to hone these imperfections so her performance echoes classic soul while feeling fresh.” AMG “These songs come at the end of the album, after a series of songs that drift and wonder, the sound of an artist trying to figure out not only what her album is but who she is. By the end of Anti, Rihanna may not arrive at any definitive conclusions about her art but she’s allowed herself to be unguarded and anti-commercial, resulting in her most compelling record to date.” AMG Notes: “Goodnight Gotham,” “Pose,” and “Sex with Me” were added to the deluxe edition.

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/23/2022.

100 years ago: “M-O-T-H-E-R” hit #1

M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me) Henry Burr

Writer(s): Theodore Morse (music), Howard Johnson (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: February 1, 1916 Peak: 16 US, 18 GA, 18 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.06 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This song was written by Howard E. Johnson, an American Navy veteran and songwriter. Composer Theodore F. Morse set the tune to music. While people typically only sing the chorus, the original song had two verses. RU While it has no specific religious words, the song is often sung in churches on Mother’s Day. RU Mother songs were especially popular “among the sentimental ballads of the 1890s and the early years of the 20th century.” TY2 In this case, the song “spelled out the letters in the word ‘mother’ and what each of them meant” SM to the singer. “M is for the million things she gave me / O means only that she’s growing old / T is for the tears she shed to save me / H is for her heart of purest gold / E is for her eyes with love light shining / R means right and right she’ll always be / Put them all together they spell mother a word that means the world to me.” Al Wohlman introduced the song in vaudeville DJ and Sophie Tucker helped popularize it in her vaudeville act. TY2 Singer Eva Tanguay performed the song as well and helped drive sheet music sales. It was first released in 1915 by Leo Feist Inc. of New York RU and at least two sheet music covers identified the song as “Eva Tanguay’s Great ‘Mother’ Song.” TY2 Henry Burr took the song to #1 in 1916. He was the #1 ballad singer of the pioneer era from 1890 to 1930. PM He charted 116 songs as a solo act from 1903 to 1928; this was his tenth of sixteen chart-toppers. He scored another 48 hits with duet partner Albert Campbell from 1911 to 1925. Eight of those went to #1. PM George Wilton Ballard also charted with the song that year, reaching #7. PM The song was also used in the 1947 movie musical Mother Wore Tights. TY2 Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 137. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) RU Rustling.org TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 86. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 65-70 and 552. Related Links: First posted 3/18/2023.