After eight years in the studio, Rihanna has finally found a new sense of artistic freedom and the space to craft her long-anticipated ninth studio album, commonly referred to as R9 by her devotees, the Navy. The singer made her musical debut as a fresh-faced 17-year-old with Music of the Sun in 2005, and her last full body of work was 2016’s six-time platinum Anti.
During her hiatus, she launched the billion-dollar Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty lingerie empire, became recognized as a fashion trailblazer and even birthed two sons with her partner of six years, ASAP Rocky. Now, in a new and revealing interview for Harper's Bazaar, the Bajan beauty is getting real about how moving past her doubts of chasing another No. 1 album and abandoning the weight of disappointment has created the perfect synergy for new music.
For starters, she tells the publication, “I think music is my freedom. I just came to that realization. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work.” She adds, “I am actually feeling really good about this. I know I kept saying this over the years.” The forthcoming album has been teased since 2023, when Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show.
Some of the promises of what she has in store for fans have included that it will represent her evolution and will be worth the wait. “I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects. And it’s not going to be commercial or radio digestible. It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!”
With Harper's, she divulges, “There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited. 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.’ 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. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.” The return to her first love will also have to be worth time away from her sons, RZA, 2, and Riot, 18 months.
Further into the interview, Rihanna also revealed a sentimental bombshell about the role her collaborator Pharrell Williams played in her motherhood journey while pregnant with her second born. According to the mogul, “He gave us this name thinking it was going to be a girl because he had seen something online,” says the “Lemon” singer. Riot also happens to be the name of an ASAP Rocky track he did with the producer extraordinaire. She added, “Pharrell is very deep. He’s not surface. He will never say anything and just leave it there with a full stop. He will have the entire history: the energy, the time, the month that it is.”
As for when fans can expect to see Rihanna deliver R9, that still remains a mystery.