Rihanna Gives (Another) Album Update, Says Her And ASAP Rocky Debate Over Songs
Rihanna has been busy over the last few years running her Fenty Beauty empire, marketing Savage x Fenty, and parenting her two baby boys. However, the fans won’t be satisfied until she drops a new album. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the “Diamonds” singer has dropped updates along the way to hold fans over.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight at the FENTY x PUMA Creeper launch in London, RiRi spoke about where she’s at in terms of the album’s creation process. She smoothly swerved a direct question about her sons, Riot and RZA, potentially being on the project, saying, “It’s up to them.” Then, she revealed she already “got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of.”
While expanding on that sentiment, she shared that her and ASAP Rocky have been in the studio a lot together. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good,” she said.
The Navy has been begging Rihanna for new music for the past few years, as her last album was 2016’s ANTI. The 6x RIAA Platinum project boasted features from SZA and Drake, with the latter appearing on the monstrous hit “Work.”
The “Umbrella” singer has been sporadically dropping off hints and updates about the next album, reportedly titled R9, ever since. In 2018, she spoke with Rolling Stone about how the LP will be a dancehall album. “Jamaican producers and songwriters have submitted ‘500 records’ for new album that’s been more than a year in the making,” the piece read.
More recently, Rih seemed to have a slight change of direction, as she told Nadeska Alexis prior to her 2023 SuperBowl Halftime Show performance that fans should expect something else. Rihanna explained that she was experimenting with new music and open to exploring new sounds. While comparing some of the unreleased music to old clothes, Ri said later in an interview with British Vogue, “[It’s] almost like trying to dress like you used to dress. It’s like, ‘Ew, no. I would never wear those again.’ Your taste changes, your vibe changes.”
While we hold onto the hope we have left for a new album, revisit ANTI below.