A$AP Rocky Hints at Rihanna’s Long-Awaited Studio Return

It has been over a decade since the release of Anti, the 2016 album that remains the singer’s last full-length project. While Rihanna has contributed to soundtracks and collaborations—including songs for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Smurfs Movie—the elusive ninth studio album, often referred to as R9, has remained a point of intense speculation. A$AP Rocky’s comments provide the most direct update in months, though he stopped short of offering a release date or track details.

The path to a new record has been complicated by the singer’s transition into motherhood and her focus on her business ventures. Rihanna and A$AP Rocky share three children, and the singer has spoken openly about the difficulty of balancing her creative evolution with the demands of family life. In a 2025 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she admitted to struggling with finding a concept that reflected her current growth, stating she felt a responsibility to make the long wait worthwhile. She hinted at having finally "cracked" the code for the project, promising that the new material will defy expectations.