Rihanna on Why She’s ‘Starting Over’ With Her Next Album
Rihanna is continuing to keep fans looped in on the status of her highly-anticipated next album, dubbed R9, but they shouldn’t expect anything soon.
At her Fenty Hair launch party in Los Angeles on Monday, the Grammy-winning singer gave Entertainment Tonight an update on new music and shut down retirement rumors.
“I think that music, for me, is a new discovery,” Rihanna said. “I’m rediscovering things. I have been working on the album for so long that I kinda put all that stuff aside and now I’m prepared to go back in the studio. I’m gonna start — give me a second!”
The “Work” singer noted that she’s not rushing her creative process, which includes revisiting already recorded tracks as well as creating new ones.
“Yeah, I’m starting over,” she explained. “But I don’t want to neglect the songs that I have, so I actually want to go back and listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective and then see what applies and what I’m still in love with.”
Rihanna hasn’t released a studio album since 2016’s Anti, which scored Grammy noms for best urban contemporary album and best recording package.
The “Lift Me Up” artist also shut down rumors about her retiring from music after she was seen walking in New York City with her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, wearing a t-shirt that read, “I’m Retired.”
“People got triggered with that retired word,” Rihanna quipped. “They were like, ‘We’re never getting an album now.’ No one read the other line, it was something about, ‘This is as dressed up as I get.’”
The Oscar-nominated singer also teased to ET in April that she already has songs for a potential new album that are “so good.”
“I already got stuff that I feel like I can make hits out of. Yeah, really,” Rihanna said at the time, adding that A$AP also loves the tracks for himself. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who is going to use what because it’s so good.”
