Rihanna Says She’s “Finally Cracked” Her Long-Awaited Album: “It Has to Matter”
The wait is almost over—at least, that’s the promise from Rihanna. The global superstar has confirmed that after eight years of anticipation, she’s finally found the right direction for her long-awaited ninth studio album, dubbed R9 by fans.
“There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited,” Rihanna, 37, shared in a revealing new interview with Harper’s Bazaar, published on Saturday, February 22. “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.’”
For Rihanna, the long hiatus from music had to be worth it. “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,” she explained. “It has to count. It has to matter.”
And she knows her fans have been eagerly waiting. “I have to show them the worth in the wait,” she continued. “I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”
The Right Time, The Right Sound
Rihanna has spent nearly a decade juggling multiple empires—from her billion-dollar Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty brands to motherhood—but through it all, music was never far from her mind.
“This feels right,” she said of her upcoming album. “It feels like 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.”
Her return to the studio hasn’t been for lack of effort. In fact, she’s been recording throughout her eight-year musical break, searching for the right sound. “It didn’t hit me. I was searching for it,” Rihanna admitted. “I went through phases of what I wanted to do—‘This kind of album, not that album.’”
Now, after years of uncertainty, she’s finally reached a breakthrough. “I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects,” she teased. “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!”
Balancing Music and Motherhood
While R9 is on the horizon, Rihanna’s number one priority remains her family. She and her partner, A$AP Rocky, are parents to two young sons, RZA and Riot, and navigating work-life balance has been an emotional challenge.
“Every decision I make revolves around them, but everything that I do that I love robs me from them,” she confessed. “I have a weird resentment with the things that I love. You almost feel like something is always suffering for you to show up somewhere. And even when you show up there, it’s not 100 percent because there’s something else on the wheel.”
That guilt is something Rihanna is still learning to manage. “I don’t like letting people down, but I also know that most of that is me letting myself down,” she admitted. “Which means something has to change, but everything is on the wheel at all times. I have to keep reminding myself that I asked for this, I love this.”
She’s determined to find a balance—so when she does finally release her album, she’ll be fully present for it. “I try to figure out a balance so that I can feel fulfilled when I show up to something, so I can feel I don’t have any guilt,” she concluded.
The Wait May Soon Be Over
After years of speculation, cryptic teases, and dashed hopes, Rihanna’s latest update signals that R9 may finally be within reach. While she hasn’t revealed a release date just yet, one thing is clear: when it arrives, it’ll be on her own terms—and it’ll be worth the wait.
