Rihanna Says She Finally ‘Cracked The Code’ On Long-Awaited New Album

Topline

Nearly a decade after releasing her most recent album “Anti,” billionaire pop star and beauty mogul Rihanna hinted at her long-awaited new music in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, stating she’s been in the studio for eight years but finally had the realization about what she wants her new album to sound like.

Key Facts

Rihanna told Harper’s Bazaar she “just came to that realization” of the direction for her new music, stating she finally “cracked the code” and is “feeling really good about this.”

She said her new music is “not going to be anything that anybody expects” and will not be “commercial or radio digestible,” stating it is “where my artistry deserves to be right now.”

The singer acknowledged she has “kept saying this over the years,” referring to the ongoing nine-year wait for a new album since she released “Anti” in 2016.

Rihanna debunked rumors that have circulated that the new album would be reggae music, calling the rumor “way off” and stating her new music has “no genre.”

She alluded to pressure she feels to get the new music right after such a long hiatus, telling Harper’s Bazaar she has to show fans “the worth in the wait” and that she “cannot put up anything mediocre.”

Rihanna, however, did not provide any details on a timeline or a title for the new album.

Key Background

Fans, yearning for new music, have lamented the lengthy wait for Rihanna’s upcoming ninth album, which does not yet have a name but is referred to by fans as “R9.” She hasn’t released an album since January 2016, when “Anti” topped the charts. The wait is uncharacteristically long for Rihanna, who released seven albums between 2005 and 2012, garnering 14 No. 1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She made a brief return to music in 2023, writing and singing “Lift Me Up” for the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which earned her an Oscar nomination. During her hiatus from music, Rihanna started a relationship with rapper A$AP Rocky, with whom she has two children.

Tangent

Rihanna has acknowledged the long wait for her album—but she also sometimes trolls her fans, like when she wore a shirt that said “I’m Retired” last year. The shirt went viral, and some fans feared she was serious, but she later denied in an interview that she was retired. In 2020, the singer told Entertainment Tonight: “I like to antagonize my fans a little bit. Well, they antagonize me, too! So, they get it right back.” She also posted a video to Instagram in 2019 of a dog jumping up and down, captioned: “me listening to ‘R9’ by myself and refusing to release it.”

Forbes Valuation

Rihanna is worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes estimates. Much of her net worth comes from the value of Fenty Beauty, her popular cosmetics brand, which she co-owns with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. She also owns a 28% stake in Savage X Fenty, her lingerie and loungewear brand. Rihanna is the world’s second-richest female musician, only behind Taylor Swift, who passed Rihanna when her net worth reached $1.6 billion last year.

Further Reading

Rihanna Is the People’s Pop Star (Harper’s Bazaar)