Rihanna pours cold water on theories Lift Me Up will make way for a new album: "New music is on the way..."

Rihanna has seemingly poured cold water on theories that the release of her new single Lift Me Up is a clear indication that her ninth album is on the way. 

Issued as the lead single from the original soundtrack to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Lift Me Up recently became Rihanna's first single to hit the Top 5 in over years, as well as marking her highest solo-placing on the chart since Diamonds in 2012.

But many fans, upon seeing that Rihanna was finally back - and about to headline the Super Bowl for the first time in 2023 too - more or less assumed this as confirmation that a new album, R9 to be specifc, was on the way.

Well, to all those fans, we're sorry to say...don't hold your breath.

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Speaking to the AP on the red carpet of her forthcoming Savage x Fenty Vol 4 Fashion Show, Rihanna revealed that "a special project" was on the way...but it might not be an album in the traditional sense.

"I knew, the second that I announced this I said, ‘Oh my God, they’re gonna think my album is coming, I need to get to work'," she said. 

Rihanna also accepted that the Super Bowl announcement is a large factor in the assumption that new music is on the way. An assumption that isn't entirely false.

"Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another," she claimed. "But I do have new music coming out. We'll see."

Yes we will!!!

Rihana's last long-player release of 2016's Anti, which itself came after what was then the biggest gap between albums in her career - four years. We're now six years and counting into the Rihanna album drought. Will there ever be an end?

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