Rihanna Is Making A Reggae Album, Is Not Friends With Drake
Rihanna used to release albums every year like clockwork, but the great ANTI, her last LP, is already two years old, and she’s too busy with non-musical endeavors to get fully back into the album cycle yet. She’s got her new Savage X Fenty lingerie line, and she’s a star in the upcoming movie Ocean’s 8, both of which are the reasons why she’s the subject of a new Vogue profile. But in the article, she does talk a bit about the new music she’s working on.
Right now, it looks like Rihanna’s next album is very early in the planning stages, but Vogue reports that “she plans to make a reggae album.” This isn’t a huge surprise; Rihanna basically debuted as a dancehall artist, recording her first hit “Pon De Replay” over the then-huge Diwali Riddim. “Work,” the biggest hit from ANTI, was essentially a dancehall song. So this could be a return-to-the-roots moment.
One possible influence on the new album is the Miami-based dancehall producer Supa Dups, who started out working with artists like Beenie Man and Capleton and who later moved onto recording with pop stars like Mary J. Blige and Eminem. Rihanna has actually worked with Supa Dups before. He co-produced a track on her 2005 debut album Music Of The Sun, and he also worked on Drake’s 2016 Rihanna collab “Too Good.”
And speaking of Drake! Rihanna has a few things to say about him. At the 2016 MVAs, Drake presented Rihanna with the MTV Video Vanguard Award; he’s also bought a billboard to congratulate her for the award. Remembering that night, Rihanna tells Vogue, “Waiting through that speech was probably the most uncomfortable part. I don’t like too many compliments; I don’t like to be put on blast.” And on the current state of her relationship with Drake, Rihanna says, “We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is.” Expect at least five Drake songs about those two sentences.
You can read the whole profile here.