From self-proclaimed “Barbarian Princess” Rihanna dropping her three-years-in-the-making album “ANTI”, to ex-One Direction member Zayn Malik releasing his debut solo single “Pillow Talk”, January was an eventful time in music.

It all began with Rihanna finally gracing her fans (or as she affectionately calls them, her Navy) with the third single, titled “Work”, from her new studio album, “ANTI”. The made-for-radio song isn’t one of the best on the record, but its catchy melody and easy to sing along to lyrics more than make up for it.

About a day afterward the single release, the album in its entirety leaked on Rihanna’s streaming service app Tidal, and was promptly taken down. However, realizing that the damage had already been done, Rihanna decided to release it for free within her app. While many see this to be an act of altruism, it was more of an economically strategic decision on Rihanna’s part. The copies that were released for “free” were all paid for by Samsung, who she has been endorsing through the entirety of this album’s era.

Regarding the content, Rihanna seems to have ditched the dance-oriented electro hall beats and lyrics of her last seven LPs and opted for more R&B tones, such as on standout track “Kiss It Better”, with its 80s reminiscent rhythm and style. I suppose she decided this would be a good time to experiment with sounds, considering it didn’t matter if the general public favored it, since Samsung already made sure the album would sell. However, if you thought it would be a Rihanna project without at least one ratchet, hip-hop inspired, slightly raunchy song, you would be sadly mistaken, as she delivers just that on “Pose”. Overall, thematically, the album’s tracks gel together well, however, the album isn’t exactly what one would be expecting after listening to her previous discography, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

In the midst of Rihanna’s dropping a new single and then album, singer-songwriter Sia also released a new album titled “This Is Acting”. In case you don’t know Sia, she is the brain behind many of today’s best Top 40 hits, and has written songs for megastars such as Katy Perry, the aforementioned Rihanna, Celine Dion and even Beyonce. She also has had a couple successful songs for herself, such as “Chandelier”, “Titanium” and “Elastic Heart”. Sia has been churning out hits since 2012 like a machine, however, not every song she pitches makes the cut. The concept of her latest album is songs which A-list singers rejected, that Sia thereafter compiled into a single record. The title of the albums stems from the fact that all of the songs were written for other pop stars and not Sia herself.

“I’m calling it This Is Acting because they are songs I was writing for other people, so I didn’t go in thinking ‘this is something I would say’. It’s more like play-acting. It’s fun,” Sia said in an interview with NME.

She executed this album perfectly, from the calculated cracks whilst hitting the high notes in “Alive”, to her loose tones and carefree attitude in dance-hall track “Unstoppable”. However, just because this work of Sia happens to be pop, she still refrained from using only common shallow themes such as money and lust, but actually often speaks against them, such as in “Cheap Thrills”, where she chants, “I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight”.

One song I found particularly entertaining was “Sweet Design”. This track, originally written for J-Lo, boasts the size of the singer’s derriere. Since J-Lo rejected it, Sia took the track for herself, and sort of made it a parody meant to be taken with humor. Imagine, a 40-year old Australian white woman such as Sia singing over an electro beat “my junk hypnotize the whole room”. Not exactly convincing coming from her mouth, but nevertheless I enjoyed it thoroughly.

And to close out the week, ex-One Direction member Zayn Malik released his debut single as a solo artist, titled “Pillow Talk”. The video co-stars his rumored girlfriend, Gigi Hadid, and shows the pair all over each other as kaleidoscopic effects take them in and out of “paradise” and “the war zone.” The song is reminiscent of the echoing, pop-R&B production found on Justin Bieber’s “Purpose”, and is certainly different from Malik’s output during his 1D days.

Click here to stream “ANTI”, “This is Acting” and “Pillow Talk”.