Rihannahas been super busy since the release of her 2016 album,ANTI. In just four years, she’s launchedFenty Beauty, unveiled herSavage x Fenty lingerie lineand announced theFenty Maison lineunder French luxury goods conglomerate LVHM, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. She dated billionaire Hassan Jameel for nearly three years until they split in January 2020, and starred in a handful of films, includingValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Ocean’s 8andGuava Island.
We’d be remiss to not include the fact that when the star droppedANTI, the album was Grammy-nominated six times, including for best urban contemporary album and record of the year for “Work.”
Although the ultra-private staropened up about including personal days in her hectic scheduleto give herself more time to nurture her then-relationship and her new fashion and beauty business ventures, she still managed to become theworld’s richest female musicianin 2019. Clearly, a few personal days here and there did not stop her grind — but that’s no excuse for delaying her highly anticipated new albumR9, according to fans.
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“i feel attacked,” she posted on Instagram in October 2018, along with a meme of herself wiping off sweat as fans mob her in the background. The pressure seemed to be getting to the star, so two months later, she finally gave her fans a solid release date.
Once the bad gal officially made it known in December 2018 that thenew reggae albumwould be coming in 2019, fans rejoiced.
“The drought is almost over,” one Twitter userresponded. “Praise the Lord,” anothertweeted. But 2019 came and went, and now it’s 2020 and there’sstillno album. She even poked fun at herself for claiming her release date too soon.
During her music hiatus, she commented on rapper Wale’s Instagram to support her fellow artist and friend, knowing that the Navy would be watching. “let’s GO!” she wrote before adding, “hides from navy”
To Rih’s defense, she did eventually acknowledge that she’s been taking longer than expected. She posted a heartfelt note in November 2019 to update the Navy on the album and her own personal status.
“to all my friends/family/coworkers who I have yet to get back to in the past months…please forgive me,” she began.
“this year has been quite an overwhelming one, and I’m working on that ish called Balance,” she wrote before adding, “brb.”
The note may have kept fans at bay for a little, until Rihanna began filling her feed with all of her new and exciting projects, none of which included music.
The star debuted her new coffee table book, to which one fan responded, “you said ‘please don’t stop the music’ at the beginning of the decade and in the end you STOP IT BY YOURSELF, ROBYN WE NEED TO TALK GIRL !!!”
When she tweeted about thedevastating wildfires burning through Australia, another fan jokingly tweeted, “Is this the album cover?”
Even as Rih announced she was being honored with the President’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards, the Navy swooped in to remind her that they haven’t left her off the hook.
Throughout all the noise, the star has still kept her silence on the matter. If and whenR9gets released, it’ll be onhertime, so put on some Fenty highlighter and sit tight until the queen says so.
But, if you too are wondering what the status is on her album, check out the cheeky clip she posted in December that says it all.
source: people.com
