Rihanna Talks New Music Ahead Of Superbowl LVII Halftime Show

Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show is just three days away, and she spoke with the program's presenting sponsor, Apple Music. RiRi told Nadeska Alexis that narrowing down her discography into one 13-minute performance was a significant job, and that "there's probably approximately 39 variations of the setlist right now." She also made a quick mention of new songs.

The singer hasn't released an album since Anti in 2016. Her current pair of ballads from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were her first releases since a minor PartyNextDoor collaboration in 2020. The spotlight has been on her beauty and lingerie empire, as well as her pregnancy with A$AP Rocky.

For quite some time now, Rihanna was working on an Anti sequel, dubbed R9 by her fans. Back in 2018, "every songwriter in Jamaica" was said to be working on the record, which was largely centered on dancehall. She claimed in 2019 that R9 would be a reggae album. That material seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Rihanna spoke as if she was just getting started on a new project during the Apple interview. “Musically I’m feeling open,” she said. “I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans, the people that know the music I’ve put out. I just want to play. I want to have fun with the music.” She further said that it could lead to something cool, but also she wants to hear all that music she was working on five years ago!

Her interview was followed by the release of a new video, which was shot on Rihanna's Street in Barbados and was soundtracked by Jay-Z's song Run This Town, which featured RiRi and Kanye West. The singer has been teasing an album for some time, but it's unclear whether or not it will be released. In January, the 34-year-old appeared in a new Super Bowl teaser, where she answered her fans' requests for new music.