“Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?” Rihanna said, shutting down new album rumors in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
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The pop star’s last album release was 2016’s Anti. With the announcement that Rihanna will take the field for the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, the singer’s fans began to question if new music was on the way.
“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,’” she told the outlet.
While the “Umbrella” singer recently dropped her first new song in six years, a contribution to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, Rihanna has confirmed that fans can keep waiting for that highly-anticipated new album.
“We just didn’t get around to it yet, really,” she said. “We’ve just been living. But I guess there’s a certain freedom that comes with getting it out there.”
Of her decision to take on the coveted halftime performance, an honor she previously declined in 2019 as a show of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, she said, “It was now or never for me.” She added that the timing and the circumstances felt right. “It was a challenge that I welcomed. It was a stage bigger than anything I’ve ever done.”
Rihanna’s return to the stage takes place less than a year after welcoming her first child. A new parent alongside her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, she explained, “If I’m going to leave my baby, I’m going to leave my baby for something special,” she said.
Also on Rihanna’s calendar is her upcoming “Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4,” streaming on Amazon Prime on Nov. 9. Last year’s show earned the artist an Emmy, and she says topping it this year will be a welcomed challenge.
“Next year is going to actually be the main challenge because this year was such a huge scale of a show and I don’t know how we’re going to beat it, but we’re going to have to try.”
(Photo credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
