Rihanna hints at what to expect from new album

Rihanna has broken her silence on new music in the making.

The nine-time Grammy winner, 37, spilled to Harper's BAZAAR in an interview published Friday, looking back at all the years she spent in the studio, trying to produce something that would set the bar higher.

“I’ve been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn’t hit me. I was searching for it. I went through phases of what I wanted to do. ‘This kind of album, not that album’.”

“I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects,” she continued. “And it’s not going to be commercial or radio, digestible. It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!”

She also shunned speculations from 2018 and 2019 that the one-time Oscar nominee could be exploring a new genre.

“Way off! There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited,” she revealed. “Every time, I was just like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s not right. It’s not matching my growth. It’s not matching my evolution. I can’t do this. I can’t stand by this. I can’t perform this for a year on tour.’”

Rihanna doubled down on how much she wants her new music to be authentic to her.

“After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”

“I think MUSIC is my FREEDOM. I just came to that REALIZATION. I just CRACKED the CODE on what I really WANT to do for my NEXT body of WORK.”

Prior to her recent interview, the Fenty Beauty founder remained mum about her intentions with the new album, widely dubbed as R9.

In June, the popstar-turned-entrepreneur even hinted that she was “starting over” with a “new perspective” and on another occasion, suggested that “God had other plans for me” than music during a product launch in November.

The last song Rihanna was featured on was Lift Me Up – the 2022 lead single for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She also headlined the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show--her first performance in seven years. She also performed at her first full show in eight years for a billionaire’s private wedding in India.

Now the new development comes after her partner of five years and the father of her two sons, A$AP Rocky, was exonerated in a trial for a 2021 shooting incident.