Rihanna Teases an Upcoming Album

By Cate Galante

Fans have been wondering where beloved pop star Rihanna has been hiding. Sure, she has been busy running her billion-dollar cosmetic line, Fenty Beauty, but listeners miss her artist era of releasing classic tunes such as “Disturbia,” “Diamonds,” and “Don’t Stop the Music.” After what seems like years of begging Rihanna to make her resurgence in the music industry, she recently announced that she would be dropping an album, but on her own time.

Allegedly, Rihanna will be releasing her ninth studio album this coming year, telling Harper’s Bazaar that it’s “not going to be something anyone expects.” She claims that this upcoming album will not be radio-digestible, and it will uncover new layers of her artistic identity that we may not be expecting. Rihanna’s evolution as an artist is notable, to say the least. From her very first album, released in 2005 titled Music of the Sun, when she was only 17 and still trying to figure out her sound, to her album Anti, released in 2016, boasting fierce ballads such as “Love on the Brain” and “Needed Me,” her development and growth as an artist is incredible. Fans’ urgent need for her to drop recent hits shows that her relevance as both an artist and influencer will never expire. 

One unique aspect of the upcoming album is that it does not have a set genre. When asked what the genre will be, Rihanna expressed that there isn’t a genre yet and that every time she felt that a song was done lyrically, the composition of it “didn’t fit” or “wasn’t right.” Fans are expecting a mix of R&B and soul, but perhaps she will reconnect with her pop roots as well. 

She expresses the pressures that come with releasing new music, saying, “I cannot put out anything mediocre.” It is clear that this album will come out in Rihanna’s time, and we, as loyal fans, will have to be patient.