I am actually feeling really good about this. I know I kept saying this over the years,” she says. Fans have guessed that her next album would lean into reggae, tapping into her Caribbean roots, but Rihanna says that theory is “way off!

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.