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Rihanna has so many ventures under her belt, from her brands like Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and Savage x Fenty to her ventures on the big and small screens; the businesswoman has a ton on her plate. In recent years, music has been placed on the backburner.

The 33-year-old singer’s last album, Anti, was released in 2016, and since the acclaimed album’s debut, fans have been absolutely desperate for more music. For years, there have been whispers about R9, the fan name for Rihanna’s ninth studio album. However, there hasn’t been a single released thus far.

Now, the Barbados-born singer has dropped a major clue about when we can expect to see new music.

Rihanna attends the 2016 MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Lionel Richie at the Los Angeles Convention Center
Rihanna | Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS

Why did Rihanna quit making music?

Rihanna never actually quit music, but after a decade in the limelight, churning out eight studio albums, she wanted to pause to focus on her other interest and to live life on her terms.

“I used to be in the studio, only the studio, for three months straight, and an album would come out,” she explained to Interview Magazine. “Now, it’s like a carousel. I do fashion one day, lingerie the next, beauty the next, then music the next. It’s like having a bunch of kids and you need to take care of them all.”

Rest has also been as important for Rihanna as work used to be. “It’s only the last couple of years that I started to realize that you need to make time for yourself because your mental health depends on it,” she explained. “If you’re not happy, you’re not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing. It’d feel like a chore. I never want work to feel like a chore.”

This is what we know about Rihanna’s ‘R9’

Still, the “We Found Love” singer has been working, even if her new album isn’t out just yet. In fact, she’s revealed quite a lot about what we expect from R9.

She has revealed that this album will be influenced largely by reggae music, and it will pay homage to her Caribbean roots.

“I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album,” she told Vogue in 2019. “It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.”

Now, it appears that we might finally hear this long-awaited album sooner rather than later.

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Rihanna just dropped a major clue about releasing new music

Rihanna’s eighth album Anti has spent five years on the Billboard 200 album chart, making her the first Black female artist to achieve that feat. To celebrate, Rihanna shared the news with her Navy on Instagram. She captioned her post, “grateful to the most High for putting die hard supporters in my circle #Anti #WomensHistoryMonth. congrats to everyone that contributed to this era; thank you team.”

Fans of course urged her to celebrate by releasing new music. Rihanna responded, “I think I should,” She then added the emoji “soon.”

Though this is obviously sensational news, Rihanna cautioned her fans by saying, ” “just 1 tho lol.”  

At this point we will take whatever we can get.