Amid the rumors that the singer was in the works to release an album this year, the news broke that Rihanna is expecting her first child with boyfriend A$AP Rocky.
Rihanna has been in the music industry since 2005 and has been dropping an album every year until 2012. Four years later, she came back with her eighth studio album ‘Anti’ and ever since, excluding collaborations, she has not released any music of her own.
Now, fans are wondering whether she’ll ever return to the studio, since having a child will no doubt change her life.
Rihanna Has Been Teasing New Music For Years
Rihanna has been teasing that she will be releasing new music since 2018, confirming that it would debut in 2019. At the beginning of 2019, she shared a video where she claimed to be working on something, but as the months went by, there was no sign of RiRi.
🚨 #R9: Rihanna shared a video of her working in the studio 🚨 pic.twitter.com/TEf4wfxgfc
— Rihanna News (@TeamOfRihanna) January 7, 2019
Then, at the end of 2019, Rihanna shared on her Instagram that the album was done but joked about “refusing to release it.”
The album seems not to be complete, as during 2020 she was still confirming to be working on music. In 2021, the singer hyped her fans again by responding to a fan comment underneath her Instagram post where Chart Data announced that her album ‘Anti’ has spent five years on the Billboard 200.
“Celebrate by releasing a song,” said the fan, to which Rihanna replied, “I think I should” with a ‘soon’ emoji, before adding “just 1 tho lol.” Ever since then, she remained silent and did not respond to any comments regarding her music.
R9 Might Be Delayed, But Motherhood Can’t Wait
The Barbadian singer kept re-assuring fans that she would be dropping music “soon”, but her comeback has been moved back multiple times. Six years later, even though Rihanna’s fans are excited about her pregnancy, others fear that the artist will never get to hear new music.
Rumors about her pregnancy began in September 2021 but her look at the Met Gala raised the suspicions and fans were not too thrilled about it.
The singer was all about ‘work, work, work, work, work’, but it seems like there will not be an upcoming album, but an upcoming baby as the rumors turned out to be true.
The couple did not break the news through their social media accounts first, but they did announce the news through celebrity photographer Miles Diggs’ Instagram. Turns out they had a photo shoot in Rocky’s hometown, Harlem in New York.
Overjoyed by the news that Rihanna is expecting a child, thousands of messages got left for both artists from their fans and celebrity friends.
Other fans have left comments underneath the posts where the singer supposedly re-assured new music with comments. Some of them were: “Damm still waiting guess we’ll be waiting another year now too I’ll wait forever lol”
Another user did not hesitate the soon-to-be-mom’s priorities and wrote: “She droppin a baby before she drops an album… Wild times.”
During an interview in 2020, British Vogue asked the singer about her future plans: “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”, Rihanna did not hesitate and said: “Ten years? I’ll be 42! I’ll be ancient. I’ll have kids—three or four of ’em.”
Single or with a partner, “the only thing that matters is happiness, that’s the only healthy relationship between a parent and a child. That’s the only thing that can raise a child truly, is love,” Rihanna continued.
Is Her Pregnancy A Sign Rihanna Will Retire?
Fans are wondering if her baby could be a sign of Rihanna’s retirement from the music industry.
Not having released her music for six years, and being busy having her beauty line Fenty Beauty and her lingerie line Fenty x Savage, fans think Rihanna’s musical goals will fall by the wayside even further when her child arrives.
Lori Majewski, host of “Fierce: Women in Music” on SiriusXM Volume told the New York Post about Rihanna’s six-year hiatus: “She’s already broken so many records. She’s already had so many hit singles. She doesn’t need more of those. If she is going to come back to music, there’s going to be a reason, a mission. It will be her ‘Lemonade.’”
As the singer is expected to give birth this Spring, fans are wondering is whether Rihanna will be putting out new music in 2022.
What seems to be clear is that the singer will not be retiring but will take her time to release her music and the more pressured she is, the longer she will take.
