Rihanna Says She Wants To Release New Album ‘This Year’

Topline

Rihanna said she wants to release a new album “this year,” she told British Vogue in an interview published Wednesday, a long-awaited collection of music that would be her ninth studio album and her first since 2016’s Anti.

Rihanna performs at the Apple Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show held at State Farm Stadium on February … [+] 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.

Variety via Getty Images

Key Facts

Rihanna wants to release the new album “this year,” she said, “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year.”

The superstar said she struggled to release new work after Anti because “it really is my most brilliant album,” and “there’s this pressure that I put on myself. That if it’s not better than that then it is not even worth it.”

She realized that if she keeps waiting “until this feels right and perfect and better, maybe it’s going to keep taking forever and maybe it’ll never come out,” but she’s “not down to that.”

She has not stopped recording music, though she didn’t release any between 2017 and 2022, and listening to some of that unreleased music is “almost like trying to dress like you used to dress. It’s like, ‘Ew, no. I would never wear those again.’”

Crucial Quote

“I want to play. And by play, I mean I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet,” she said. “I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”

Big Number

9. That’s how many Grammys awards Rihanna has. She has been nominated for 33.

Key Background

Rihanna did not put out new music between 2017 and last year, when she released two new songs for the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. One of the songs, “Lift Me Up,” was nominated for Best Original Song for an Oscar. During that time frame, Rihanna launched her beauty line, Fenty Beauty, and her lingerie line, Savage X Fenty, which are both billion-dollar brands. In May, she welcomed her first child with rapper A$AP Rocky, and during her Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday, she revealed she is pregnant with her second. Rihanna played coy leading up to the Super Bowl, as many fans expected her to announce new music or a tour in tandem with her halftime show. “Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing,” she said in October. She hasn’t lost the dedication of her fans during her hiatus: Rihanna’s halftime show averaged over 5 million more viewers than the Super Bowl game itself, and her performance was the second most-viewed halftime show, behind Katy Perry’s in 2015. Between Saturday and Monday, her music experienced a 390% increase in digital song sales overall and her digital album sales increased 301%.

Forbes Valuation

$1.4 billion. That’s how much Forbes estimates Rihanna is worth.

Rihanna Says She Wants To Release New Album ‘This Year’—Her First Since 2016