The wait for Rihanna's new album is still high. Following her rare appearance on PartyMobile highlight "Believe It," fans have been speculating that her forthcoming project isn't too far away. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case and realistically, we'll likely have to wait until this Coronavirus pandemic dies down.
In a recent profile with British Vogue, Rihanna shared some insight on her ninth studio album which is tentatively titled, R9. Though no release date has been set, she did confirm that she's working on it heavily at the moment. "I can’t say when I’m going to drop,” she said. “But I am very aggressively working on music."
That being said, she did confirm that the project is indeed influenced by reggae. "I don’t want my albums to feel like themes.. there are no rules. There’s no format. There’s just good music, and if I feel it, I’m putting it out," she said. " “I feel like I have no boundaries. I’ve done everything – I’ve done all the hits, I’ve tried every genre – now I’m just, I’m wide open. I can make anything that I want.”
Perhaps this album will arrive this summer but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. She promised that the project would arrive in 2019 which never happened so maybe 2020 is more promising.