Rihanna knew fans would be anticipating a new album as soon as she announced her upcoming Super Bowl Halftime performance. However, according to RiRi, The Navy will have to wait.
The superstar singer’s last studio album was Anti in 2016. Since then, Rihanna has made major moves, building her Fenty empire and bringing new life into the world. Her son with A$AP Rocky is not yet a year old, and Rhianna didn’t want to return to the stage unless it was significant.
“It was a challenge that I welcomed. If I’m going to leave my baby, I’m going to leave my baby for something special,” Rihanna told Associated Press in an interview.
Her next performance is indeed “something special,” the coveted Super Bowl Halftime show. Despite previously declining the offer, “It was now or never for me,” she said, having it turned down in 2019 in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “It was a challenge that I welcomed. It was a stage bigger than anything I’ve ever done,” Rihanna added.
Last week, the multi-Grammy Award winner shared her first musical offering in six years, appearing on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Rihanna has a message for those fans who believed this was a sign that a new album was incoming.
“Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?” Rihanna said. “The second that I announced this, I said, ‘Oh, my God, they’re going to think my album is coming. I need to get to work.”
The multihyphenate has been enjoying motherhood rather than focussing on her highly anticipated comeback album. Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have kept their son shielded from the public, although this could soon change.
“We just didn’t get around to it yet, really. We’ve just been living. But I guess there’s a certain freedom that comes with kind of just like getting it out there,” she said before describing the challenges of raising a child with two high-profile parents. “We have to navigate it extremely, extremely cautious right now.”