Despite Rihanna’s lengthy hiatus from music, she’s always had melodies on the brain.
However, she’s not rushing to release a body of work that she doesn’t agree with. In fact, the singer—who hasn’t released a full album since 2016’s Anti—recently shared insight into the journey of creating her long-awaited ninth album.
“I was just like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s not right,” Rihanna told Harper’s Bazaar in a Feb. 22 interview about the past approaches she’s taken with her music. “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.”
While the 37-year-old didn’t expand on those specific musical decisions, she explained, “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.”
Rihanna knew she wouldn’t attach her name to a “mediocre” album, and she became comfortable with elongating her hiatus (which has turned into a popular joke over the years) in order to release music she’s proud of. “After waiting eight years,” she added, “you might as well just wait some more.”
That’s not to say Rihanna hasn’t been in the studio, as she released the Oscar nominated “Lift Me Up” as part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s soundtrack in 2022. And now, after years of teasing and exciting sightings of her leaving the studio, the singer—who shares sons RZA Athelston, 2, and Riot Rose, 18 months, with boyfriend A$AP Rocky—is now feeling “really optimistic” about her new music.
“This feels right. It feels like it digs right into where I need to be and I want this,” she said, adding she’s ready for this project “to come out.” “This is becoming my new freedom, because when I’m in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn’t been watered in eight years.”
The Unapologetic artist noted she’s finally found the sound she’s been “searching for,” and that her new music will be an unexpected gift. “It’s not going to be commercial or radio digestible,” she continued. “It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it!”
And while she’s looking ahead at new music, she’s also looking back with pride at her last album.
“I listen to Anti from top to bottom with no shame,” Rihanna admitted of the 2016 album, adding that while she doesn’t like to listen to her music, Anti has always been the mesmerizing exception. “That’s the one album that I can have an out-of-body experience [with.]”
While we await her new songs, keep reading for a look back at the singer throughout the years…
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