Rihanna covers Harper's Bazaar magazine, talks music and motherhood after A$AP Rocky trial
Rihanna is opening up in a rare new interview for Harper's Bazaar magazine.
The "Close To You" singer is seemingly getting closer to releasing new music and she opened up about her journey back to the medium nine years after the release of her last album "Anti" in January 2016.
"I think music is my freedom. I just came to that realization. I just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work. I am actually feeling really good about this. I know I kept saying this over the years," Rihanna told the publication.
The "We Found Love" hitmaker's March cover story for the magazine's legacy issue, on U.S. newsstands March 4, comes after she made a series of rare public appearances at the assault trial of her partner A$AP Rocky, born Rakim Mayers, who was found not guilty Tuesday.
Rihanna makes courthouse appearanceto support A$AP Rocky amid shooting trial
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Rihanna talks music hiatus: 'There's no genre now'
The Fenty Beauty billionaire, who hails from Barbados, added that fans are "way off" with theories that the album will center around her Carribean heritage, telling Harper's Bazaar that "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,'" Rihanna told the fashion magazine.
"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," she added. "I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more."
Rihanna, who celebrated her 37th birthday on Thursday, said that her forthcoming music "feels right" to her.
"It feels like it digs right into where I need to be, and I want this. This body needs to come out, and I'm ready to go there," she told the magazine. "This is becoming my new freedom, because when I'm in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn't been watered in eight years."
The nine-time Grammy-winning recording artist is mom to two children with Rocky: 1-year-old Riot and 2-year-old RZA. During the interview, Rihanna said she's "been in the studio the whole eight years," but a potential new sound "didn't hit" her right away.
"I was searching for it. I went through phases of what I wanted to do. 'This kind of album, not that album.' I know it's not going to be anything that anybody expects. And it's not going to be commercial or radio digestible. It's going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I've finally cracked it, girl!" she told Harper's Bazaar.
Rihanna opens up about parenting sons Riot and RZA with A$AP Rocky
Since welcoming Riot and RZA, Rihanna has become even more private — and self-protective — but the fashion icon says she is returning to one of her first loves.
"Now I'm starting to just remember what I loved about it: the juxtaposition, putting the things together that don't make sense. My fashion has always been driven by my mood, and my mood was on mom mode for a minute," she told the magazine.
What was ASAP Rocky on trial for?Grammy-nominated rapper found not guilty
The mom-of-two also made rare public comments about her two sons, revealing that Pharrell Williams helped inspire Riot's unique name after collaborating with Rocky on a 2023 song of the same name.
'RZA is just an empath. He's so magical. He loves music. He loves melody. He loves books. He loves water. Bath time, swimming, pool, beach, anything," Rihanna revealed to the magazine. "And Riot, he's just hilarious. When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I'm like, 'Okay, here we go!' He's my alarm in the morning! He's not taking no for an answer from anyone. I don't know where he came from, dude."
She divulged that the "greatest thing" about her boyfriend 'is seeing him be a dad" and his "pureness" and "charm."
"I'm annoyed because my sons sometimes just live for him more than they live for me," she said. "And I'm like, 'Did you know who cooked you? Do you know who pushed you out?' And they love him, but when I see it, oh, it's the best."
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