Rihanna Said She's Using Her Upcoming Album as an "Outlet"

• Rihanna opened up about her upcoming ninth album in a new interview with The Associated Press.
• She revealed she's held "tons of writing camps" to develop new songs for the record
• "Everything is so heavy. The world that we live in is a lot. It’s overwhelming every single day," Rih said. "And with the music, I’m using that as my outlet."

Here is the deal: As Rihanna stans, we can panic and speculate and bother her in her Instagram comments all we like, but R9 will drop when it drops and there is truly nothing we can do to expedite that process. But allow me to offer a word of comfort for the anxious: Rih spoke candidly about her upcoming album in a new interview (opens in new tab) with The Associated Press, and confirmed that it is very much on the way.

Rihanna revealed she's held "tons of writing camps" to develop new songs for the record, and is now asking herself some key questions about how to proceed: "What do I feel personally? What do I want to put out, and as an artist, how do I want to play it with my art? How do I want to interpret that? How do I want to reimagine it? Because it’s been so structured before."

"You do pop, you did this genre, you do that, you do radio, but now it’s just like, what makes me happy? I just want to have fun with music," she continued. "Everything is so heavy. The world that we live in is a lot. It’s overwhelming every single day. And with the music, I’m using that as my outlet." 

Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed Rihanna's plans considerably, dashing her hopes of an impending tour. "I want to go on tour but I can’t, so I’m stuck with music that I love, and now I’m trying to figure out how I can even create visuals to that," she explained. "That’s a challenge as well. But I love challenges so, you know, I’m gonna get it done." Breathe a little easier, Navy! It's coming! It's coming!