{"id":1214718,"date":"2025-02-22T15:53:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T15:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/?p=1214718"},"modified":"2025-02-22T15:53:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T15:53:49","slug":"rihanna-on-aap-rocky-her-children-fentys-future-and-her-next-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/rihanna-on-aap-rocky-her-children-fentys-future-and-her-next-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Rihanna on A$AP Rocky, Her Children, Fenty\u2019s Future, and Her Next Album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
\n

It\u2019s just past 4:30 in the morning, and Rihanna lets out a hearty laugh. Settled in a swivel chair in the living room of a dimly lit penthouse suite in a downtown Manhattan hotel, she is telling me about a game she and A$AP Rocky, her partner of five years and the father of her two children, invented at the end of a long road trip they took during the height of Covid. They called it Mickey Mouse, she explains, \u201cbecause we were like, we\u2019re going to take walks for hours. And every time, we would get these nutcrackers from Harlem, and we would say, \u2018Every time we see a rat, we got to take a shot.\u2019\u2009\u201d She clarifies: \u201cNot a shot. A sip of the nutcracker. That\u2019s like taking a shot or 12.\u201d The drink, a New York City summer specialty consisting of saccharine-sweet fruit juice and high-proof liquor, is so-named because it hits hard.<\/em> <\/p>\n

It is at this moment that Rocky, as Rihanna affectionately calls him, who is fully dressed and curled up asleep on a couch nearby, wakes up, as jazz he\u2019s been playing crescendos in the background. \u201cHe put that on for you. He thought you\u2019d like it.\u201d Rihanna is resplendent in a light-blue cutout cashmere sweater from Ferragamo, pinstripe shorts from her own Savage X Fenty<\/a> line, and flourishes of spiral-set and cushion-cut diamonds on every finger. Her hair, long and black with a center part, is the perfect complement to a face full of expertly applied makeup. \u201cDamn, you heard that from back there? You being nosy,\u201d she chides him in that familiar Bajan lilt. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ<\/span><\/figcaption>
Top and shorts, Dior<\/a>. Rihanna wears Dior J\u2019adore<\/a> eau de parfum throughout.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

To be in Rihanna\u2019s world, even for just a couple of hours, is to be completely charmed, disarmed, and welcomed without pretense. She is at once the mononymous cultural force that has given shape to so many indelible moments spanning music, fashion, and beauty over the past 20 years and <\/em>the person you create fantasy Real Housewives<\/em> taglines with over a glass of wine. (Hers: \u201cBajans are crazy. You\u2019re welcome!\u201d in case you were wondering.)<\/p>\n

\n

A warm hostess, Rihanna asks me at the start of our interview what I would like to drink. I try to match her energy and ask for whatever she is having, and she graciously tries to anticipate what I might want. She orders us a trio: a glass of water, wine, and an espresso. Her personal assistant places down the drinks and asks if we want anything else. \u201cMind your business!\u201d she says with a laugh to Fenty Corp vice president Carolyn Girondo as she playfully shoos them away to the bedrooms. All of a sudden, it\u2019s just me and Ri. No publicist looming. No manager eagle-eying the clock to check you don\u2019t go over your allotted time. \u201cI can\u2019t be monitored like that,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve done that in the earlier years. And I always feel like, \u2018Am I giving the right answer? Am I allowed to say this?\u2019 I don\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rihanna offers a sincere apology for the late start. She explains that she and Rocky had taken a trip to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem that evening, surprising kids with sneakers and clothes from their respective Puma collaborations and posing for photos. \u201cThen we were uptown and Rocky wanted to get food. We went to Melba\u2019s,\u201d she says, referring to the famed Southern soul-food restaurant. \u201cShe\u2019s a legend.\u201d Product-naming decisions for upcoming releases for her Fenty Beauty line had to be made before inviting me up to join her. It makes sense that her schedule is packed while most people would be asleep. Such is the life of a mogul and mother of two whose net worth has swollen to $1.4 billion. Arguably, there\u2019s no time for sleep; every minute is big money.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the <\/em>RAPUNZEL life. It\u2019s very <\/em>ISOLATING. It\u2019s very<\/em> <\/em>LONELY. And what am I protecting <\/em>MYSELF FROM?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

\u201cShould we cheers to this amazing interview that\u2019s going to happen?\u201d Rihanna asks as she sparks up a joint. We clink our wineglasses. \u201cLet\u2019s get into it!\u201d she exclaims. \u201cYou know we could talk for hours. You know that you agreed to an hour, but we could be here till 6:00 a.m. if the vibe is right!\u201d<\/p>\n

What I find, hours in, is a Rihanna who seems truly at peace. She has plans for the future (yes, that includes new music), but she is also very grounded in the present. She\u2019s landed a major new gig as the new face of Dior\u2019s marquee fragrance, J\u2019adore.<\/a> \u201cIt was very intimidating\u201d to take on the job, Rihanna says. \u201cBut I was excited to represent such a historic brand, something that was special to me.\u201d She\u2019s happy to be Rocky\u2019s plus-one at London\u2019s Fashion Awards, where he won the Cultural Innovator Award. \u201cI was there to support Rocky for such an incredible achievement.\u200a\u2026\u200aIt was not my night to wear a gown.\u201d She\u2019s protecting her space and taking time to be a mom. It\u2019s a state of being that feels hard-won. I imagine it is particularly difficult to achieve, given her level of fame and visibility, her growing business empire, and having her two children, RZA (in 2022) and Riot (in 2023), in quick succession.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes that feel like where you are?\u201d I ask, picking up on her sense of zen. <\/p>\n

\u201cCheers to clarity,\u201d she says as we toast again. \u201cI think clarity is an evolution in itself. I think people have moments where you have to either get sick of yourself, have something that is completely mind-altering, or come to an understanding of your pain, of your journey. Once you have clarity on something, there\u2019s a new era of your life that\u2019s going to begin. It\u2019s going to be something that you don\u2019t understand, because now you\u2019ve grown; now you\u2019re experiencing new things. And you are not always going to understand what you\u2019re experiencing. You have growing pains. Things are uncomfortable when you\u2019re growing. And the devil always tests you when there\u2019s a reward coming up. It knows the trophy\u2019s right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/p>\n
LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ<\/span><\/figcaption>
Trench coat and gloves, Dior<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Robyn Rihanna Fenty released her first single, \u201cPon de Replay,\u201d in 2005 when she was 17. In a golden year for pop, one dominated by the likes of Mariah, Missy Elliott, and Destiny\u2019s Child, her innate star power shone through. Two decades and multiple eras later, Rihanna has ascended from pop star to superstar. Her endurance is powered by her willingness to dare. She dares to reject what you think a celebrity is meant to represent; she dares to take nine years off from music because she knows you won\u2019t forget her. And can\u2019t. She\u2019s made pop culture a far more exciting place. <\/p>\n

Surveying an adolescence spent in the spotlight, she says, \u201cI had a lot of doubts. Actually, after Music of the Sun<\/em>\u200a\u2026\u200adoubt grew every album,\u201d she reminisces through puffs, her voice descending into a soft purr. \u201cYou actually think you have to have a number-one album to be successful or to think you made it. You feel like you failed if your album became anything less than number one. That was the era of music at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been afraid of how much is me versus what I\u2019ve been influenced by,\u201d she says of the trajectory of her career. \u201cI left home as a teenager, and I left everything I knew: my family, my friends, my food, my culture. And I came to a big city by myself, and the only option for me was to win. I knew that I had to win. The suffering that I felt not being a part of anything that I knew, there was only one way to make that worth it, because I knew that my family was suffering without me too. And so I was like, \u2018There\u2019s no way. This has to pay off.\u2019 And that was my fight, my goal, my everything. Every single day. I only got to see my family at Christmas. So I spent the year just going for it until I saw them. As a child, I could only handle so many emotions. And the one emotion I could never handle was disappointment. I didn\u2019t know where to put that. It was a feeling that was so disheartening, and it actually pulls a lot of emotions into that box. You\u2019re sad, you\u2019re angry, you\u2019re hurt. And I didn\u2019t know how to handle disappointment.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy <\/em>FASHION has <\/em>ALWAYS been <\/em>DRIVEN by my<\/em> <\/em>MOOD, and my mood was on <\/em>MOM MODE for a <\/em>MINUTE.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

Not that much disappointment has been part of her story. Rihanna is the best-selling female recording artist of the 21st century. She has seven U.S. diamond-certified singles and 14 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She\u2019s won nine Grammys, been nominated for an Oscar, and starred in five movies. Her Super Bowl halftime performance<\/a> was one of the most watched in history, and she was the first woman of color to helm an LVMH fashion house. She is so much a part of the zeitgeist that she sold one million album units in the U.S. in 2024 without even releasing an album in the 2020s. <\/p>\n

I ask her if in those rare instances, when disappointment comes, does it come more easily? \u201c[What I know] is that you\u2019re carving your journey. And every disappointment, letdown, hurt, good, weird, uncomfortable\u2014it\u2019s all for you. All of your experiences, they\u2019re actually preparing you for the next step. I look at my childhood and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my gosh, God already knew that this is how my life would look. And if I didn\u2019t go through this or if I didn\u2019t do that or if my family didn\u2019t have that sense of humor, comments online would probably hurt my feelings.\u2019 It\u2019s like I was being prepared for this all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

This<\/em> is the eminent position of one of our last few celebrities who have that impossible-to-fake rock-star life and energy to match. She stays up all night and looks amazing doing it. Come for her on social media and expect a clapback, personally written by @badgalriri<\/a> herself. (She\u2019s quick to correct me when I comment on her sweet nature: \u201cI\u2019m not that sweet, but I am honest,\u201d she quips.) She\u2019s your favorite celebrity\u2019s favorite celebrity; just look at the viral clips of Martha Stewart, Natalie Portman, and Jennifer Lawrence all declaring their admiration. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"fashionable<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/p>\n

LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To hear Rihanna talk about fashion is to watch her truly come alive. Her commitment to serving a look knows no bounds. An everyday errand run requires the same level of sartorial commitment as a trip to Giorgio Baldi, a nondescript Italian eatery popular with L.A.\u2019s celebrity set. <\/p>\n

A few days before our meeting, Rihanna wore a vintage Fall 2002 Christian Lacroix furry turquoise wrap coat and matching hat,<\/a> pulled from the brand\u2019s archives by her stylist Jahleel Weaver, to London\u2019s Fashion Awards. Online, the look was divisive; people either loved or loathed it, but one thing\u2019s for certain: As the resident enfant terrible of fashion, only Rihanna could pull it off. \u201cYou think?\u201d she says. \u201cI think Pam [Anderson] could, but she would wear it tighter. I wanted to have fun. Number one, it wasn\u2019t my award. I was there to support Rocky for such an incredible achievement.\u201d Together with Rocky, who wore an understated Bottega Veneta pantsuit, the two stole the show. \u201cThere was a beaded apron, the hat, the gloves, the waist cincher under the corset, and, oh my Godddd,<\/em> the most beautiful pair of YSL pumps. I can\u2019t believe YSL made those shoes. I love them!\u201d she coos. <\/p>\n

I ask, how does she have the energy? <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t,\u201d she says bluntly. \u201cI can\u2019t believe you\u2019re saying that. I am exhausted. I am tired. I am done, over it. Sometimes I\u2019m just hungry. I went to Giorgio\u2019s the other night in my Savage onesie. I was like, the only thing I\u2019m going to do right now is put heels on, and that\u2019s it. I just want to eat. Why do I have to dress up for that? I just want the food.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis much <\/em>TIME away from <\/em>MUSIC needs to <\/em>COUNT for the <\/em>NEXT THING everyone <\/em>HEARS. It has to <\/em>MATTER. I have to <\/em>SHOW them the <\/em>WORTH in the <\/em>WAIT.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

Her looks, while always legendary, hit a new stratosphere while she was pregnant, when she single-handedly rewrote the style rules for mothers-to-be.<\/a> She wore a Dior babydoll dress with the lining ripped out, exposing and celebrating her belly, while pregnant with her first son, then a chocolate-brown leather harness Ala\u00efa gown and vintage Jean Paul Gaultier halterneck mesh dress worn over a sequined bikini while pregnant with her second. What could have been just a display of incredible looks turned into a transgressive and highly charged political statement that changed the conversation on the pregnant body\u2014more specifically, what it looks like and how it should be dressed. Now postpartum, she is still figuring out where her style fits in her new reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like getting dressed is a fight on its own 1740239543,\u201d Rihanna explains. \u201cEverything is so\u200a\u2026\u200alogical. What makes sense? What\u2019s easy? What\u2019s fast? I try not to overthink all that stuff, but you\u2019re leaving the house. It kind of stops you from going out. How much energy do I have to put into getting ready? Doing my makeup, doing my hair, and then going to the closet and figuring out which three things in this entire room make sense together? You go through a fog. And fashion is so much fun, and I miss the fun.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/p>\n
LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ<\/span><\/figcaption>
Mousseline dress, Dior<\/a> Haute Couture.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Jawara Alleyne, the Caymanian-Jamaican designer, found an early champion in Rihanna. The designer, who resides in London and who is revered in the fashion space for his colorful sliced, diced, deconstructed, and safety-pinned-together tees and gowns, has created custom pieces for the singer. \u201cShe has this innate ability to transform anything she wears into a statement, and that\u2019s incredibly powerful,\u201d Alleyne says. \u201cPeople see her wearing my designs and immediately understand the value and integrity behind the work. She\u2019s the epitome of confidence, creativity, and authenticity, which perfectly aligns with my vision as a designer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rihanna acknowledges that she is \u201cstarting to have fun again\u201d when it comes to getting dressed. \u201cNow I\u2019m starting to just remember what I loved about it: the juxtaposition, putting the things together that don\u2019t make sense. My fashion has always been driven by my mood, and my mood was on mom mode for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think <\/em>MUSIC is my <\/em>FREEDOM. I just came to that <\/em>REALIZATION. I just <\/em>CRACKED the <\/em>CODE on what I really<\/em> WANT to do for my<\/em> NEXT body of <\/em>WORK.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

A glance at the wallpaper of her phone suggests her kids are never not on the brain. Pictures of her young brood illuminate the screen. I ask her to describe them, beyond the adorable clips we\u2019ve seen through social media. \u201cRZA is just an empath,\u201d Rihanna explains. \u201cHe\u2019s so magical. He loves music. He loves melody. He loves books. He loves water. Bath time, swimming, pool, beach, anything. And Riot, he\u2019s just hilarious. When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I\u2019m like, \u2018Okay, here we go!\u2019 He\u2019s my alarm in the morning! He\u2019s not taking no for an answer from anyone. I don\u2019t know where he came from, dude,\u201d she adds, describing a boisterous personality that, from observation, doesn\u2019t seem unlike her own. \u201cDon\u2019t say that. Wait until you meet him!\u201d Riot\u2019s name came courtesy of Pharrell Williams, who worked with A$AP Rocky on Rocky\u2019s 2023 song of the same name. \u201cHe gave us this name thinking it was going to be a girl, because he had seen something online. Pharrell is very deep. He\u2019s not surface. He will never say anything and just leave it there with a full stop. He will have the entire history: the energy, the time, the month that it is.\u201d She explains RZA struggled with the introduction of a baby brother, \u201clike all [new] siblings do, and at first Riot was understanding that his role was being the little brother. Now he knows he\u2019s in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

When news of Rihanna\u2019s pregnancy in early 2022 came to light, it was hard to imagine two of music\u2019s coolest characters swapping club-hopping for Chuck E. Cheese. Rihanna tells me that the \u201cgreatest thing\u201d about Rocky \u201cis seeing him be a dad. His pureness. His charm. I\u2019m annoyed because my sons sometimes just live for him more than they live for me,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018Did you know who cooked you? Do you know who pushed you out?\u2019 And they love him, but when I see it, oh, it\u2019s the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Rocky and Rihanna grew up in the music scene together. They partied at the same clubs, appeared in each other\u2019s music videos, and flirted during a 2012 VMA performance before making anything official. When they finally got together in 2019, they were like a millennial Bonnie and Clyde, just impossibly good-looking. The two are spotted in New York\u2019s hole-in-the-wall bars as often as in its hottest restaurants. She explains that after flying in from a recent trip, when she was understandably ready for bed, Rocky had other ideas. First stop: a late-night run to New York\u2019s famed Joe\u2019s Pizza. \u201cThen he\u2019s like, \u2018I want to go to the arcade,\u2019\u2009\u201d and then they ended up at Radio, a jukebox bar and one of the couple\u2019s favorite watering holes. \u201cAnd I was just like, \u2018I\u2019m in Ugg slippers, sweats, and a busted-ass face because I just woke up.\u2019\u2009\u201d They are determined to escape the celebrity ivory tower, particularly in New York (Rocky\u2019s hometown), where they can more easily mix in with the public, she explains. \u201cWe like to eat with people. We like to shop with people. We like to walk the streets with people. I don\u2019t like a private room. I don\u2019t have them shut down stores. I don\u2019t like the Rapunzel life. It\u2019s very isolating. It\u2019s very lonely. And what am I protecting myself from? I\u2019m actually allowing people to dictate the robbery of the life that I could actually be living.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tabloid shots of them giggling, singing karaoke, and canoodling in bars make it seem like the two live as if no one else is watching, even if, in reality, millions are. \u201cThat\u2019s a big thing for us and actually a really big thing for him,\u201d she notes. \u201cHe always reminds me, no matter how hard everything is that we\u2019re dealing with in our life, in our careers and as parents, he\u2019s like, \u2018Remember when we were friends? Remember when we just used to have fun as friends?\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201c<\/em>GETTING OLD is <\/em>SHIT, but it\u2019s also a <\/em>BLESSING.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

Three days after Rihanna had her first baby, she was on a Zoom call. With the second baby, she recalls, \u201cthree days out of the hospital, I was in a meeting in person with a robe and a belly that looked like I was still pregnant.\u201d Even icons don\u2019t get a proper maternity leave. <\/p>\n

But this is how involved Rihanna is in her many businesses. \u201cI care because my name is on it,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want my name to represent anything that I didn\u2019t stand for.\u201d In addition to all things Fenty Beauty, which she launched in 2017 and which has branched out into skincare and hair care, she has expanded her popular Savage X Fenty line and relaunched Fenty x Puma, her collaboration with the sportswear giant that had previously been on hiatus since 2018. And if Rihanna keeps going, there\u2019s more: \u201cI want to do furniture. Home design.\u201d I suggest wine perhaps, a nod to the meme-worthy paparazzi photos of her carrying wineglasses from the dinner table home with her. \u201cYou know what?\u201d she contemplates. \u201cI think I\u2019ll do wine later in my life. Because I respect the art of it all, and we would want to have our own family vineyard.\u201d I ask her why she feels she\u2019s got the proverbial Midas touch when it comes to her businesses. Why do people believe what she\u2019s selling? \u201cYou know what? I\u2019ve never underestimated the consumer. I think a lot of people underestimate the consumer. They think that they can maybe pull the wool over the consumer\u2019s eyes and sell them what the ideal of beauty should be. And I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the era of social media or just time, but people are not dumb. People are not blind to what\u2019s happening. They understand the marketing; they understand the strategy. They know when you\u2019re being fake.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s because she doesn\u2019t force it. It\u2019s just who she is,\u201d muses her longtime creative collaborator Willo Perron, who she worked with on her world tours and Savage X Fenty fashion shows, as well as her 2023 Super Bowl performance. \u201cIt\u2019s second nature for her, and she\u2019s not concerned with what others are doing. She stays focused on what she wants to create and how she wants to express herself. That effortless cool comes from the fact that she genuinely doesn\u2019t have to try. It\u2019s innate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Work, and holding it up to the standards that Rihanna requires, becomes more fraught when constantly bookended by motherhood. Every commitment is a careful calculus. \u201cEvery decision I make revolves around them, but everything that I do that I love robs me from them,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I have a weird resentment with the things that I love. You almost feel like something is always suffering for you to show up somewhere. And even when you show up there, it\u2019s not 100 percent because there\u2019s something else on the wheel. It\u2019s actually given me a lot more self-guilt. I don\u2019t like letting people down, but I also know that most of that is me letting myself down, which means something has to change, but everything is on the wheel at all times. I have to keep reminding myself that I asked for this, I love this. I try to figure out a balance so that I can feel fulfilled when I show up to something, so I can feel I don\u2019t have any guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has also meant that some of her other passions have had to wait. In fact, so long has the time been since 2016\u2019s Anti<\/em>, Rihanna\u2019s most recent and critically revered album, that arguably Gen Zers and beyond won\u2019t even think of her as just a musician\u2014more a business and cultural omnipresence. Her music is where even her most die-hard fans become her harshest critics, impatient at the nine-year wait for a new album. Recently, she went back and listened to Anti,<\/em> mining her own music almost as a fan rather than as its voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI listen to Anti<\/em> from top to bottom with no shame,\u201d she says. \u201cI used to always have shame. I actually don\u2019t like listening to my music, but Anti<\/em>\u2014I can listen to the album. It\u2019s like it\u2019s not me singing it, if I\u2019m just listening to it. That\u2019s the one album that I can have an out-of-body experience where it\u2019s not like\u2009\u2026\u2009You know when you hear your voice in a voicemail, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Ugh.\u2019\u2009\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"rihanna<\/p>\n
LUIS ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ<\/span><\/figcaption>
Knit dress with cowl neck, Dior<\/strong><\/a> Haute Couture.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

The time with her music reinforced where she wants to take it next. \u201cI think music is my freedom. I just came to that realization. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work. I am actually feeling really good about this. I know I kept saying this over the years.\u201d <\/p>\n

There have been many rumors on the stylistic direction of R9,<\/em>the fan name given to the long-awaited record. A reggae album was buzzed about in 2018, though she\u2019s quick to debunk this: \u201cWay off! There\u2019s no genre now. That\u2019s why I waited. Every time, I was just like, \u2018No, it\u2019s not me. It\u2019s not right. It\u2019s not matching my growth. It\u2019s not matching my evolution. I can\u2019t do this. I can\u2019t stand by this. I can\u2019t perform this for a year on tour.\u2019 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still keeping the details close to her chest, she shares that she\u2019s \u201cfeeling really optimistic. This feels right. It feels like it digs right into where I need to be, and I want this. This body needs to come out, and I\u2019m ready to go there. This is becoming my new freedom, because when I\u2019m in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn\u2019t been watered in eight years. I\u2019ve been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn\u2019t hit me. I was searching for it. I went through phases of what I wanted to do. \u2018This kind of album, not that album.\u2019 I know it\u2019s not going to be anything that anybody expects. And it\u2019s not going to be commercial or radio digestible. It\u2019s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I\u2019ve finally cracked it, girl!\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy <\/em>LEGACY is <\/em>RIGHT NOW. That\u2019s <\/em>ALL I have the <\/em>MOST CONTROL OVER.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

Until then, her newest role involves becoming the face of Dior\u2019s storied fragrance J\u2019adore<\/a>. Rihanna first worked with Dior back in 2015 when she appeared in a fashion campaign as a Dior brand ambassador. But her relationship with the brand goes back much further than that. \u201cMy first introduction to J\u2019adore Dior was my mom. My mom used to sell perfume at a duty-free store. She would come home with the testers when they were down to the end and they have to put out a new tester. J\u2019adore was one of those ones that were always there. And that\u2019s where my love for J\u2019adore started.\u201d Plus, it\u2019s fun to say. Rihanna coaches me to say the name of the fragrance like she does in the commercials, breathy and sultry. For a few minutes, we just say \u201cJ\u2019adore\u201d back and forth to each other. <\/p>\n

The campaign shoot, photographed in the Palace of Versailles, coincided with the eve of her 36th birthday. At the stroke of midnight, Rocky arrived and surprised her with the kids to celebrate. As she recalls a sentimental memory, it\u2019s clear she\u2019s taking time to enjoy a life that\u2019s been decades in the making. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting old is shit, but it\u2019s also a blessing,\u201d she says. In all the unpredictability of her very unique life, she has manifested her dreams of domesticity into existence, and she knows its sanctity. \u201cMy legacy is right now. That\u2019s all I have the most control over. My legacy is what I do with my time at this moment. How am I present with the people around me? How am I grateful? How am I making this a happy moment? How am I making a memory? I\u2019m even in the space of not even spending my money on things, but I\u2019ll spend my money on an experience. That\u2019s something no one can take from me. Somebody could rob me right now of everything I have, [but] they will never take a memory, an experience, a feeling, a scent that reminded me of that moment. There\u2019s just things that mean more when you grow up.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n