Rihanna Wants to Drop a New Album in 2023
Rihanna fans have been awaiting a new album from the Barbados-bred singer since the release of her eighth studio album Anti in 2016. In the years since then, Rih has largely stepped away from the music world, instead focusing on other ventures such as her Fenty Beauty cosmetics line and Savage X Fenty lingerie and apparel company. But after performing at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, RiRi admitted that she’s ready to come out with an album’s worth of new material.
Rihanna returned to music with her 2023 Super Bowl halftime show
Rihanna’s performance at the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show comes after years of the “Pon de Replay” singer being approached to do the show. She told Vogue in 2019 that she turned down doing the show because of the NFL’s prior treatment of Colin Kaepernick. But after giving birth to her first child in May 2022, Rih’s outlook changed.
She explained to British Vogue in February 2023 what she thinks still needs to be done to achieve equity in the NFL, and what steps have been taken in the years since then that have given her more hope — and pushed her to accept doing the show in 2023.
“There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes,” Rih said, “but it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level.” She cited last year’s Super Bowl featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar being back-to-back with her show “representing the urban community, globally.” “It is powerful,” she said. “It sends a really strong message.”
Becoming a mom also played a part in her deciding to say yes to the Super Bowl. “Of course, raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life,” she said. “You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’ All of those things really start to hit differently.”
Rihanna wants to release an album in 2023
Many Super Bowl halftime show performers go on to release albums after performing at the iconic football game. Blige, Lamar, and Snoop all released albums last year, for example. Despite her ninth studio album evading fans for seven years, she told British Vogue that she’s preparing to eventually make a comeback, ideally before 2023 is over.
“I want it to be this year,” she said. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”
“And I need the right background music with the visuals. I can’t just go shoot a video to me talking,” she said.
Calling Anti her “most brilliant album,” Rih confessed that she puts pressure on herself to top her previous work. “I realized that if I keep waiting until this feels right and perfect and better, maybe it’s going to keep taking forever and maybe it’ll never come out and no, I’m not down to that,” she said. “So I want to play. And by play, I mean I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet.”
She’s pregnant with her second child
Rihanna brought out a special guest with her for her Super Bowl performance: her unborn second child. Representatives for the singer confirmed after the show that the baby bump fans saw was indeed real and that she was expecting another baby, less than a year after giving birth to her first.
British Vogue noted that Rihanna expressing her desire to return to music in 2023 was before she found out she was pregnant again.
