January 28 marked a decade since the release of Rihanna‘s last album, Anti, but she hasn’t abandoned the career that made her a household name.
“Rihanna is, and has been, working on an album,” a source exclusively assures Luxury Handbag Shopping.
So, what’s the holdup? “It’s taken many forms because she’s scrapped a ton of music that she’s made over the years. She basically had an album done at one point, and then she decided to start fresh,” the insider explains, adding that “at no point has she put it aside completely — not even while pregnant or a new mom.”
The source notes that Rihanna, 37, has “been through so much over the past 10 years,” including growing Fenty Beauty into a $2.8 billion operation and welcoming three children with partner ASAP Rocky, leaving her with “a lot of ground to cover” musically. (The couple, who started dating in 2019, share sons RZA, 3, and Riot, 2, as well as daughter Rocki, 4 months.)
“She wants the album to reflect where she’s at now — not, say, three years ago — but also sound timeless,” the insider tells Us. “It’s a tricky balance, but it’s one that she’s determined to figure out.”
Plus, after such a long hiatus, Rihanna “knows all eyes and ears will be on this album when it does eventually drop,” according to the source.
The immense pressure hasn’t stopped the singer behind hits including “Umbrella,” “We Found Love” and “Diamonds” from experimenting with different genres, though. She told Harper’s Bazaar for her March 2025 cover story, “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.”
With the stakes higher than ever, the insider tells Us, “She wants to make sure it’s nothing short of a masterpiece. Any song that she even slightly second-guesses won’t make the cut. It has to be perfect.”
Luxury Handbag Shopping has reached out to Rihanna’s rep for comment.
While Rihanna has not released an album since 2016’s Anti — which included the singles “Work,” “Kiss It Better,” “Needed Me” and “Love on the Brain” — she did record new songs for two recent movie soundtracks: “Lift Me Up” from 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and “Friend of Mine” from 2025’s Smurfs.
The multihyphenate has also made a few returns to the stage, most famously headlining the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, during which she performed songs such as “Bitch Better Have My Money” and “Pour It Up” and revealed her second pregnancy.
“It was so scary because it was kind of unexpected to come back from, like, zero to Super Bowl,” she said on CBS Mornings at the time of accepting the NFL’s offer in the midst of her break from the music industry. “That’s kind of nuts.”
