Rihanna has her finger on the pulse of her fanbase, and is very aware that the Navy (the nickname given to her legion of fans) was, in her words, “triggered” by a Conner Ives T-shirt dress she wore last week that read “I’m Retired, This Is As Dressed Up As I Get.”
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Rihanna joked that, instead of fans’ focus on the “I’m Retired” apparent declaration, they should have focused on the second half of the statement: “No one read the other line,” she said yesterday, referencing the “dressed up” part of the outfit. “People got triggered with that ‘Retired’ word. They were like, ‘We’re never getting an album now.’”
Entertainment Tonight spoke to Rihanna at a Fenty Hair event last night, and, per fans taking that “I’m Retired” T-shirt dress a little too literally, she responded, cheekily, “Clearly I’m here, clocked in.”
The Navy isn’t totally off base in its concern, specifically in regards to her “retiring” from music: Rihanna hasn’t released a full-length album since 2016’s Anti, instead putting her focus on entrepreneurial ventures in the fashion and beauty space, like her new endeavor, Fenty Hair, which launches on Thursday (and has been in the works for “four years,” Rihanna told Entertainment Tonight).
In all fairness, the multihyphenate did contribute the track “Lift Me Up” to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack in 2022, and performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023, where she famously revealed her pregnancy with her second child, son Riot—so her music career hasn’t completely gone dark as she builds her empire.
Fans have nicknamed Rihanna’s forthcoming album R9, and yes, Navy, it is happening. Musically, Rihanna said she’s at a point of “starting over”: “Music for me is a new discovery,” she said. “I’m rediscovering things. I have been working on the album for so long that I kinda put all that stuff aside, and now I’m prepared to go back in the studio.”
She added, per Entertainment Tonight, “I’m gonna start—give me a second!”
As she prepares to shift her focus to creating more music, she added, “I don’t want to neglect the songs that I have, so I actually want to go back and listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective, and see what applies and what I’m still in love with.”
Speaking of “in love with,” Rihanna has also welcomed two sons, RZA and Riot, with partner A$AP Rocky since 2016 and her last album drop. Though Rihanna clarified last night that she’s not currently expecting, she did tell Entertainment Tonight that, when asked if she’ll have more kids, “You know what? I hope so. I do,” adding “I would definitely have more kids.”
So yeah, when it comes to being retired, from any aspect of her full life? Rihanna is anything but that.
