Rihanna’s Anti inspired the look of a new drama.
Selah and the Spade — directed by Tayarisha Poe — tells the story of secret factions at an elite boarding school in Pennsylvania and cinematographer Jomo Fray says the movie’s visuals were inspired by Rihanna’s 2016 studio album Anti.
Describing the movie’s visual design as “savage formalism,” Fray told Variety: “It was ‘savage’ in the way of Rihanna’s Anti album, meaning cold, powerful, brutal and bold.”
Director Poe added: “Jomo is a collaborator who speaks of Rihanna’s oeuvre and the societal effects of brutalist architecture with the same gravity.”
Meanwhile, Rihanna previously admitted making the album was a “challenge” but said she just wanted to “make a body of work that felt right.”
She wrote on Instagram: “I released my most anticipated album to date #ANTi … When I started making this album I never would have imagined how much of a challenge the process would be. I was evolving in the midst of making a body of art that was supposed to reflect who I was in that moment, yet it was the very answer I didn’t have! I was numb for a while…numb to all the bullsh*t and numb to all the good sh*t. But I was determined not to settle for what everybody thought this should be, or when they thought it should come, or how! I stuck to it until I felt something again! “And I remember like it was yesterday, the night it happened! We rented a house in Malibu for a couple months and did MUSIC! Every room, every couch, every corner, there were musicians everywhere, the whole Fenty Corp, the best times! 1 night we vibing, TyTy made a comment, and I got super sensitive, lolol! Then I thought ‘hold up, did I just feel a way?? Did I just FEEL???!!’ It was in that moment that I trusted myself, trusted my ear, trusted my gut, trusted the way that my music made me FEEL!!! I had no idea how it would be received, neither was that something I considered. I just wanted to make a body of work that felt right!
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