Rihanna Won't Say When "R9" Drops But She's "Aggressively Working"

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Rihanna attends the "Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets" European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on July 24, 2017 in London, England.
Rihanna's said she's "working aggressively" on her forthcoming project but she doesn't have a release date set.

The wait for Rihanna's new album is still high. Following her rare appearance on PartyMobile highlight "Believe It," fans have been speculating that her forthcoming project isn't too far away. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case and realistically, we'll likely have to wait until this Coronavirus pandemic dies down. 

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In a recent profile with British Vogue, Rihanna shared some insight on her ninth studio album which is tentatively titled, R9. Though no release date has been set, she did confirm that she's working on it heavily at the moment. "I can’t say when I’m going to drop,” she said. “But I am very aggressively working on music."

That being said, she did confirm that the project is indeed influenced by reggae. "I don’t want my albums to feel like themes.. there are no rules. There’s no format. There’s just good music, and if I feel it, I’m putting it out," she said. " “I feel like I have no boundaries. I’ve done everything – I’ve done all the hits, I’ve tried every genre – now I’m just, I’m wide open. I can make anything that I want.”

Perhaps this album will arrive this summer but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. She promised that the project would arrive in 2019 which never happened so maybe 2020 is more promising.


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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