RiRi’s getting honest about what’s been cooking with her next album.
During her Harper’s BAZAAR cover interview with Lynette Nylander, she dished about why R9‘s taking so long. After listening to her 2016 album Anti front to back, she shared how it helped shape her new direction.
“I think music is my freedom. I just came to that realization. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work. I am actually feeling really good about this. I know I kept saying this over the years,” she says.
She also shot down those reggae album rumors. Back in 2018-2019, she’d talked about making a Bob Marley-inspired reggae record with producer Supa Dups, who’s worked with Beenie Man and Sean Paul.
“Way off! There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited. 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.’ 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. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more,” she says.
Earlier this year, she mentioned “starting over” with the album. Now she’s feeling pumped about her art and warns fans to expect something different.
“This feels right. 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. This is becoming my new freedom, because when I’m in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn’t been watered in eight years.”
She adds, “I’ve been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn’t hit me. I was searching for it. I went through phases of what I wanted to do. ‘This kind of album, not that album.’ I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects. 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!”
Eight years in the studio? Take your time, RiRi – we’re not going anywhere.
