She released her last album in 2016. The last time she took the stage was in 2018, at the Grammy gala. Rihanna has been away from music for years, but in recent weeks her name has resonated loudly, due to her Oscar nomination and her performance in the Super Bowl. She has confirmed that this is not her return and that her priorities are now other: her son, her personal life, and her fashion and cosmetics brand.
On November 13, 2019, Rihanna confirmed on Instagram what was already suspected: she had decided to leave music looking for stability and harmony in her life.
“To my friends/family/co-workers that I needed to reply to in the last few months… Please forgive me. This year has been quite overwhelming, and I am working on what is called balance, ”she wrote in an Instagram post.
Although it did not seem definitive, the truth is that since she published her eighth and last studio album in 2016, Anti, the singer, one of the most influential personalities in the music of the 2000s, has shown little interest in returning to the stage. or working on new releases.
And although the announcement of her performance in the Super Bowl was interpreted by many as her return, unfortunately for her fans, she immediately hurried to deny it. "At the time I announced this, I knew people would think 'Oh, he's going to come back with new music', but no, right now I don't plan on releasing new music," the artist herself made it clear.
A successful businesswoman
One of the reasons for this 'abandonment' is that the artist, in recent years, has turned to her business facet. In 2017, she launched her cosmetics brand Fenty, which quickly became a bestseller, as she opened up the world of cosmetics to women of color, something that had not been done until then.
In 2019, the project grew as a fashion brand, associated with the LVMH luxury fashion group. Another alliance with the TechStyle company allowed RiRi to also launch a line of underwear, designed for all body types, Savage x Fenty. Another business success has made the Barbadian "the richest female singer on the planet," according to the magazine.
Another reason why Rihanna does not consider returning has to do with her recent maternity. Last May she gave birth to her first child with rapper ASAP Rocky. “He is crazy, amazing, wild, and weird. It's all of those things, all at once. The best feeling ”, were her words when asked about her experience as her mother in these months.
"But when you become a mother, there is something that happens and you feel that you can conquer the world, that you can do anything," the Diamonds singer continued to explain that her son was precisely what prompted her to accept the challenge of performing at halftime of the football final. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. As terrifying as it was because I hadn't been on stage in seven years, there is something exhilarating about all that challenge. It's important to me to do it this year. It's important for representation, it's important for my son to see it," she explained.
Her comeback in a big way
Since the publication of her last album, Anty, six years ago, Rihanna has only interrupted her retirement from the stage once. It was in 2018, at the Grammy Awards ceremony, where she sang the song Wild Thoughts along with Dj Khaled and Bryson Tille. The performance did not go unnoticed and her presence was the highlight of the gala.
That same night she picked up her ninth gramophone for Best Rap/Sung Song, Loyalty, alongside Kendrick Lamar.
In 2020, she once again surprised her fans with a collaboration she did with Canadian musician PartyNextDoo. The song Believe It was Rihanna's first appearance on a single in three years. But, behind her, silence again.
Until October 28, 2022, she announced her participation in the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the new installment of the Marvel saga. RiRi is in charge of interpreting the main song of this production, Lift Me, and has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
