“I feel like music is a playground, and I want to have fun with it and show truly where I am at,” singer says of long-awaited Anti follow-up
Rihanna once again teased her long-awaited new album — dubbed R9 by fans — during a red carpet appearance for her Fenty makeup Saturday.
Asked about the follow-up to 2016’s Anti, Rihanna told Extra, “It’s gonna be amazing. It has to be — that is the only reason it’s not out yet. If I’m not feeling it and I’m not feeling like it represents the evolution, the time I spent away. There should be a show of growth, right? I want to play, and I feel like music is a playground, and I want to have fun with it and show truly where I am at.”
Rihanna’s latest R9 comments come over a year after she said —while promoting her Super Bowl halftime show — that she expected the album to arrive in 2023. (It didn’t.)
“I want it to be this year. Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year,” the singer said in February 2023. “But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos… And I need the right background music with the visuals. I can’t just go shoot a video to me talking.”
After reportedly recording over 500 songs for the dancehall-flavored follow-up, Rihanna likened listening to unreleased songs at the time to “almost like trying to dress like you used to dress. It’s like, ‘Ew, no. I would never wear those again.’ Your taste changes, your vibe changes.”
When asked by Extra Saturday if R9 would feature any special guests, Rihanna admitted, “I’m not a big collaborator… It has to be very intentional, so I’ll know when I have the record.”