Looks like Rihanna’s hinting at new music again with no release date in sight. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the singer turned beauty titan revealed there’s “no genre” for her “next body of work” and that the music would not be “commercial or radio digestible.” And when might we expect this genreless project? “After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more,” she said.
“Every time, I was just like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s not right. It’s not matching my growth. It’s not matching my evolution. I can’t do this. I can’t stand by this. I can’t perform this for a year on tour,’” she added of her previous attempts to jump-start an album. “After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre.”
If you’re experiencing déjà vu, that’s likely because Rihanna loves to vaguely suggest that R9 — the fan-created title of her next album — will come to fruition at some point in the near or, more likely, distant future. Aside from her dabbling on the occasional movie soundtrack, it’s been nine long years since Rihanna released music with her last album, 2016’s Anti. Of course, she has been busy birthing two children and launching a beauty empire, but she never stopped promising that new music was afoot. In 2018, she claimed she’d be dropping a new album in 2019. Come 2019, she told Vogue she was “trying” to get back into the studio. Then, after a Fenty Hair event and retirement scare last year, Rih promised she was “gonna start” soon. I’m starting to think she enjoys these little mind games.
I love that Rihanna wants to deliver something for her fans, but I don’t see her schedule clearing up anytime soon. A$AP Rocky is back in action post-acquittal, and Rih herself was named the face of Dior Beauty’s fragrance J’adore in September. Still, the 37-year-old seems committed to the bit: “I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects … It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!”