Is anyone surprised Rihanna isn't working on new music?
After a widely debated Super Bowl performance Sunday night, Rihanna told Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan: "They are waiting. I'm excited to actually put new music out but I don’t have any updates for you on that yet."
The interview, filmed a few days in advance of her half-time performance, is the first definitive proof we have that R9 — the popular fan term for her ninth studio album — is nowhere on the horizon.
Or... she’s toying with us!
\u201cIf @Rihanna needs another backup performer, @michaelstrahan is available!\n\nWatch their full interview about her return to the stage for the #SBLVII halftime show: https://t.co/SizDzijMVI\u201d— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America) 1676294726
Rihanna's last official release included two singles from the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022: "Born Again" and "Lift Me Up." Before that, her most recent album Anti dropped in 2016.
Elsewhere in her conversation with Strahan, she explained that there were "so many things I had to overcome to even do this. I had just become a mom, literally, and I have not been on tour for seven years." She continued: "To go from that to the Super Bowl, it was one of those things that I knew would be a challenge."
Prior to the GMA interview, she held a press conference with Apple Music 1, where she explained her future, far-off musical endeavors: "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."
Rihanna similarly broke the internet last night during her performance, when she revealed a baby bump just nine months after she and boyfriend A$AP Rocky welcomed their first child.
\u201cRihanna reveals she is pregnant with her second child during her #SuperBowl Halftime performance.\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1676253051
Amid the on-air surprise, "ANOTHER BABY" trended on Twitter, with users hotly debating if she had, in fact, announced a pregnancy. She has enough on her plate! The rest of us can wait for new music when Rih feels like it.
Photo via Getty/ Anthony Behar