Rihanna knows R9 cannot possibly wait much longer

"It’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year," Rihanna says of her ninth album

By Gabrielle Sanchez  |  February 15, 2023 | 9:30pm
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Rihanna knows R9 cannot possibly wait much longer
Rihanna Photo: Gregory Shamus

Following her grand return to the stage during this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, Rihanna seems to be turning her attention back to her music career. The pop-hit maker is showing a renewed interest in being a hitmaker—not just a makeup business mogul—and recognizes that fans have been waiting a silly amount of time for the near-mythical R9.

“I want it to be this year,” she tells British Vogue. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”

We all just want to have fun, Rihanna! That’s why we need this album! The singer also shares that over the last seven years, she’s never stopped recording music—despite some fans’ concerns of her putting down the mic forever—but some of her creations from this time period will remain locked in the vault.

“Your taste changes, your vibe changes,” she says.

Later in the interview, Rihanna talks about the legacy of 2016's Anti, her last full-length release and the most critically acclaimed work of her career thus far.

“[Anti] always felt like the most cohesive album I’ve ever made,” Rihanna says. “When you break it down and you realize this album goes from ‘Work’ to ‘Kiss It Better’ to ‘Needed Me’ to ‘Love on the Brain’ to ‘Sex With Me’ to ‘Desperado.’ And somehow it all fits and not for a second did you glitch?”

She’s not wrong—Anti is a hard act to follow. Hopefully, she does not let this pressure prevent her from even trying to match her previous album, but she does express concerns.

“If it’s not better than [Anti] then it is not even worth it…” she says. “[But that’s] not the right way to look at music because music is an outlet and a space to create, and you can create whatever. It doesn’t have to even be on any scale. It just has to be something that feels good. It could just be a song that I like. It literally could be that simple.”

 
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