Rihanna knows we’re all waiting for her new music to drop—we’ve actually been waiting nearly nine years, since 2016’s Anti. But in her March 2025 cover story for Harper’s Bazaar, the superstar reveals she was waiting, too, for a sound that aligned to her new self and mirrored her growth. Now, she’s found it.

Rihanna has two young sons, RZA and Riot, with her longtime partner, rapper A$AP Rocky. Earlier this week, the musician, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, was found not guilty of firing a gun at a former friend by a jury in Los Angeles.

After eight years in the studio, Rihanna has finally found a new sense of artistic freedom and the space to craft her long anticipated ninth studio album, commonly referred to as R9 by her devotees, the Navy.