After listening to fans beg for new music, Rihanna has finally confirmed she's working on a new album that will reflect her Caribbean background more than anything she's done before.
Although the star has played with dancehall and reggae vibes on songs such as "Pon De Replay," "Man Down" and "Work," her pop and R&B tracks have been the foundation of her musical success. In a new interview with T Magazine, the Barbadian boss shared that her next album, tentatively titled R9, will truly speak to her Bajan roots.
“I’m about to call it that probably, ’cause they have haunted me with this ‘R9, R9, when is R9 coming out?'” she said, laughing. “How will I accept another name after that’s been burned into my skull?
Last July, Rolling Stone reported Riri's next album would be reggae, claiming eight songs for the new body of work were already completed. Over 500 songs were submitted to the superstar from various Jamaican songwriters and producers.
“[Rihanna’s team] have, no lie, 500 records for this project [from] different producers and writers,” an unnamed dancehall producer told the publication. “They’re only choosing 10 records. They’ve been having writing camps and trying to keep them quiet for almost a year and a half now. I’ve been flying to Miami, flying to L.A., cutting records nonstop for this project.”
