Rihanna's Former Publicist Blames Jay Z's Tidal For ANTI Album Flop

Hay made the revelation during a recent interview, calling the streaming network which Jay Z had bought and transformed and named, Tidal, "an embarrassment."

Rihanna at the Grammys (International Business Times UK)

Record producer, Jonathan Hay, who had worked with Rihanna as her publicist back in 2005 has revealed that Jay Z's Tidal is to blame for the failure of "ANTI" album.

Hay made the revelation during a recent interview, calling the streaming network which Jay Z had bought and transformed and named, Tidal, "an embarrassment."

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The former publicist went on to reveal that Rihanna had been "upset" following the poor sales the album had racked up in the first week of its release.

"ANTI" reportedly sold just 460 copies in the first week of it release after it had been given away for free by Tidal.

Hay, 42, explains:

“Tidal is lame. It’s embarrassing for Jay Z. And now to see Kanye West do the Tidal album and his record doesn’t chart, and then Rihanna’s first week, it was a disaster. For Jay Z to make his artists do this is so bad because this is affecting their legacy.I t’s really crazy and I know for a fact Rihanna is upset about the Tidal thing and you can see it when you go to her Twitter."

Hay adds:

“She is a Tidal owner, but on her Twitter to pick up her album, she uses a Google plus app not Tidal. That’s her shooting back because Jay Z is just making a mistake.

“The rollout was sloppy, the rollout was bad, to go on Tidal exclusively and eliminate Spotify and Apple is absolutely mad.

“Thirty years from now, people will just see her first week was a flop. Kanye has now been called a flop. And it’s all because of this Tidal s***.

“Just imagine if Adele came out with a Tidal exclusive, it would be weird, it just needs to go away because Jay Z is affecting his artists’ brands. I fear Rihanna is losing and she is going to start going down.”

Hay who had reportedly been responsible for the publicity of Rihanna’s debut album, "Pon de Replay" and the spread of the false rumour that she was dating Jay Z while he was with Beyonce, may actually have a point.

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A few weeks ago, Liveintel reported Jay Z is set to sue the original owners of Tidal for a whooping sum of $15m for misleading him in terms of the service's performance.

With graphic scenes reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film or slash horror and chainsaws that would make serial killers jealous, the video directed by Rihanna and Megaforce will no doubt spark a flood of controversy.

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