Rihanna Is Dropping New Song ‘Friend of Mine’ for the ‘Smurfs’ Movie Soundtrack Soon

Rihanna fans who are desperate for new music don’t need to feel blue any longer — the superstar finally has a new song coming out soon, recorded for the Smurfs movie soundtrack.

As revealed Wednesday (May 14) with the release of the film’s new trailer, Ri will drop a track called “Friend of Mine” on Friday (May 16). The teaser also features snippets of the song, which finds the Fenty mogul singing over a dreamy Afrobeats-inspired dance track, “You’re looking like a friend of mine.”

Starring Ri as the voice of Smurfette opposite John Goodman, James Corden, Nick Offerman, Sandra Oh and more, the Smurfs movie is set to hit theaters July 18. In addition to the “Umbrella” singer’s new song, its soundtrack will also feature Tyla as well as a song called “Higher Love” by DJ Khaled, Cardi B and DESI TRILL, which dropped in February.

The new teaser opens with a shot of Rihanna — aptly wearing a blue jacket and blue beads in her hair — dancing in the studio as she records some of Smurfette’s lines. It then shows a preview of the film’s storyline, with the residents of Smurf Village traveling to the real world to save Papa Smurf (Goodman) after he’s kidnapped by evil wizard Gargamel (J. P. Karliak).

In addition to starring and singing in the film, Ri also served as an executive producer on the latest addition to the Smurfs franchise. While announcing the project back in 2023 at that year’s CinemaCon alongside Paramount and Nickelodeon, the musician — who was pregnant with second son Riot Rose at the time — said, “I get to show up in my PJs in my third trimester … I hope this gives me cool points with my kids one day.”

“Friend of Mine” will mark Ri’s first release since 2022’s “Lift Me Up” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She hasn’t dropped an album since 2016’s Anti, which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The new trailer comes a week after Ri attended the Met Gala with partner A$AP Rocky, who was one of the event’s co-chairs this year. On the red carpet, she showed off her baby bump, revealing that she’s expecting her third child with the rapper.

And though fans have been waiting for a new Rihanna album for nine years at this point, the musician says that her latest pregnancy isn’t going to stop her from working on Anti‘s follow-up. “Noooooo!” she told Entertainment Tonight when asked whether that would be the case on the Met red carpet May 5. “Maybe a couple videos! I can still sing!”

Watch the new Smurfs trailer and listen for snippets of Ri’s new song “Friend of Mine” below.