Rihanna has insisted speculation her next album will be a reggae record is “way off”.
The ‘Diamonds’ hitmaker – who hasn’t released an album since 2016’s ‘Anti’ – admitted she’s struggled to find the “right” sound for her long-awaited ninth album and the more time she has taken on the record, the more she feels it has to “matter” and have been “worth” waiting for.
Asked about speculation she’s made a reggae record, she told the new issue of Britain’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine: “Way off! There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited.
“Every time, I was just like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s not right. 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. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”
But Rihanna thinks she has “cracked the code” on her musical future.
She said: “I think music is my freedom. I just came to that realisation. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work.”
The 37-year-old star adores her last album and can listen to ‘Anti’ in a way she can’t enjoy her other records.
She said: “I listen to ‘Anti’ from top to bottom with no shame,
“I used to always have shame. I actually don’t like listening to my music, but ‘Anti’ – I can listen to the album. It’s not me singing it, if I’m just listening to it.
“That’s the one album that I can have an out-of-body experience where it’s not like … You know when you hear your voice in a voicemail, and it’s like, ‘Ugh.’ ”
Read the full interview with Rihanna at https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/rihanna. The April issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale on 13 March.