Rihanna says her long-awaited ninth studio album is "going to be completely different"

Rihanna told journalists at her Savage x Fenty fashion event that she's been "having fun" in the studio.
rihanna-twitter-september-2021-1100.jpg

Rihanna has teased that her long-awaited new album is "going to be completely different" to any of her previous work.

Speaking with Associated Press at her latest Savage X Fenty lingerie show, the Barbadian singer says her ninth studio album is like nothing we have heard from her before.

"You're not going to expect what you hear," Rihanna told reporters. "Just put that in your mind. Whatever you know of Rihanna is not going to be what you hear. I'm really experimenting, and music is like fashion, you should be able to play. I should be able to wear whatever I want and I treat music the same way. I'm having fun and it's going to be completely different."

MORE: Acts with the most Top 10 hits on the UK's Official Singles Chart

Rihanna's next album has been a long time in the making, and will be her first LP since 2016's Anti which peaked at Number 7 on the Official Albums Chart and spawned the Number 2 hit single Work ft. Drake.

Back in July 2018, a producer close to the project said Rihanna had been working with over 500 songs for the record, which Rihanna said was "reggae-infused" back in October 2019. Then in March 2020, the fashion designer and singer-songwriter said she was "aggressively working" on new material, of which she said there was no fixed genre across the collection.

Last summer, Rihanna stated in an interview that fans are "not going to be disappointed when it happens", and most recently in December 2020, Rihanna said she 'wanted to take [her] music to the next level'.

Rihanna has scored nine UK Number 1 singles, the second-most in UK chart history for a female solo artist behind Madonna (13). Look back at Rihanna's full UK chart history, including four Number 1 albums and 49 Top 40 singles.

Article image: Twitter (@Rihanna) / Savage X Fenty

Related artists

Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.

Already registered?

Log in

No account?

Register

avatar

Alfred Lock

1

Well after 5 years how much of the
world will be ready for so long a wait? Only the most diehard fans will not be fickle..She has to do much better this time than 2016's anti which was rather underwhelming from her more successful past efforts (no.7 is a disappointment in album.chart terms) and get in first before Adeles' long awaited comeback comes out of the blue...and of course there's streaming to now contend with.

A

Alexander

4

looking forward to any new music from her as i really like her music. have from the start and hopefully some live gigs will happen next year which would be nice.