After eight long years without any new music from Rihanna the superstar has revealed her ninth album is on its way.
The singer, who has become a mom to two sons and a hugely successful business mogul in the almost decade since her last music was released, has shared that she has been in the studio – but that fans should be prepared for something wildly different.
“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. And it’s not going to be commercial or radio, [or] digestible,” she told Harper’s Bazaar UK.
“It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!”
© Courtesy of Luis Alberto RodriquezRihanna turned 37 on February 20, and she added that this feels like the “right” time and that it “digs right into where I need to be, and I want this”.
“This body needs to come out, and I’m ready to go there. This is becoming my new freedom, because when I’m in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn’t been watered in eight years. I’ve been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn’t hit me. I was searching for it.”
© Getty Images for Fenty Beauty &Her last album was 2016’s ANTI, which was nominated for six Grammys.
It’s been a big week for Riohanna as she also celebrated her birthday, and the news that boyfriend A$AP Rocky was found not guilty on all counts in his assault case on Tuesday afternoon.
© Getty ImagesThe father of her two sons, Riot, one, and five-year-old RZA, was facing two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, related to an incident in which he was accused of pulling a gun and firing toward former childhood friend Terell Ephron aka A$AP Relli.
According to his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, the couple were so happy about his not-guilty verdict, that they made a remarkable promise relating to their future third baby.
© Instagram“Rihanna and Rocky said to me in the courtroom yesterday, they grabbed me, and they said, ‘Listen, our next baby is A$AP Joe,'” A$AP’s lawyer, Joe told Extra.
The singer had previously said she wanted “three or four” kids.