Fans who have been waiting since 2016 for a new album from Rihanna are getting a glimmer of hope from the singer herself.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rihanna said she has had “tons of writing camps” ahead of her ninth studio album.
The singer said she is asking herself a lot of questions. “What do I feel personally? What do I want to put out, and as an artist, how do I want to play it with my art? How do I want to interpret that?
“How do I want to reimagine it because it’s been so structured before.”
Rihanna added: “You do pop, you did this genre, you do that, you do radio, but now it’s just like, what makes me happy? I just want to have fun with music. Everything is so heavy. The world that we live in is a lot. It’s overwhelming every single day. And with the music, I’m using that as my outlet.”
The 32-year-old star also said she is adapting to the realities of the pandemic. “I want to go on tour but I can’t, so I’m stuck with music that I love, and now I’m trying to figure out how I can even create visuals to that,” she said. “That’s a challenge as well. But I love challenges so, you know, I’m gonna get it done.”
Although she has been featured on a number of tracks from other artists – including this year’s “Believe It” by Canada’s PARTYNEXTDOOR – Rihanna has not released new music since her album ANTI in 2016.