2 weeks ago
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Rihanna Hints at New Music With a Glimpse of Her Back in the Studio
Rihanna is always putting in the work, work, work, work, work.
But her latest Instagram video—which shows off a day in her busy life, with the majority of her work kicking off after 9 p.m.—has fans crossing their fingers that some of that professional time is leading towards the new music fans have long been awaiting. Just streamlined
In the Feb. 26 video, Rihanna kicks off her late night with a meeting with her Fenty team. But it’s an offhand comment she she makes that had fans crossing their fingers.
“I have to go to the studio after this,” the 38-year-old tells her team. “And I have to make a Mardi Gras costume for my son after the studio.”
And indeed, shortly after at 2:00 in the morning—at which time Rihanna crosses off the word “sleep”—a montage shows the “Work” singer in the studio, where she can be seen fiddling with a sound board, writing in a note book and dancing to music that isn’t heard in the clip.
The tease was enough for fans to speculate about what’s to come from the studio session.
“I see Studio????????,” one fan wrote in the comments, while another user couldn’t hide their excitement, adding, “SHE IS COMING BACK.”
Rihanna didn’t divulge any further details about any potential music. Instead, at 6:45 a.m. Rihanna—who shares kids RZA, 3, Riot, 2, and Rocki, 3 months, with A$AP Rocky—shifted into mommy mode as she got to work hot gluing fringe on a blazer, before taking Riot to school where they each put their Mardi Gras attire on display.
Though it’s been nearly a decade since the release of 2016’s Anti, Rihanna knows her fans have been anticipating her ninth studio album. Indeed, the “Diamonds” singer previously shared why her new album is taking longer than she and fans have expected.
As it turned out, she hadn’t been satisfied with the new music she'd come up with so far.
“I was just like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s not right,” Rihanna told Harper’s Bazaar in an interview published in February 2025. “It’s not matching my growth. It’s not matching my evolution. I can’t do this. I can’t stand by this. I can’t perform this for a year on tour.”
“After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears,” she added. “It has to count. It has to matter.”
As for rushing the music? Rihanna said she knows her fans can wait a little longer for a project they’ll all be happy with.
“After waiting eight years,” she quipped, “you might as well just wait some more.”
And while the world is aware of Rihanna’s musical talents, her and Rocky’s littles haven’t gotten a taste of their parents’ repertoire just yet. However, according to A$AP—who has been dating Rihanna since 2020—it’s his mission for their kids to understand how great their parents are.
"They don’t request their parents’ music," he told GQ in an interview published Sept. 22. “They can’t even develop the concept of having famous parents at this moment.”
To look back on Rihanna’s biggest moments in music, fashion and more, keep reading…
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