It has been a while since Rihanna has released any new albums. Is it possible that the Cheers (Drink to That) singer has retired?
No, Rihanna has not retired. While it has been over four years since the Work singer released a new album, she has still been racking up wealth in other areas. From her appearances in films like Ocean’s 8 to opening a fashion boutique, Rihanna has been one busy woman. She has also teased a new album with no release date set.
You can read more about Rihanna’s multiple business ventures below and what exactly she has been up to recently.
A Mentor in Jay-Z
If you weren’t aware already, Rihanna was signed on to Def Jam Recording right at the beginning of her career by the king, Jay-Z, himself. From there, she went on to record eight studio albums, the most recent, Anti, being released in 2016. It is quite evident that Rihanna found herself signing with the best possible mentor when it comes to creating a successful career.
Jay-Z is actually one of the wealthiest musicians in the world with a net worth of $1 billion USD. He has ventured into areas in and out of the music industry. Not only has he been an active musician since the year Riri was born, he founded his own recording company, has created his own fashion label Rocawear, owns multiple clubs, and has invested in countless different technologies and operations.
From the course Rihanna’s career has been on, it seems she is taking notes from the 99 Problems singer. Who wouldn’t if they had the chance to be mentored by such a prolific business tycoon?
Rihanna’s Career Outside of Music
Rihanna was quick to jump start a career outside of the music industry, using her new found fame to nab endorsement deals with different companies. Her first endorsement was with Secret Body Spray in 2005. From there, she worked with Optus, Kodak, Nivea, and Vita Coco.
Rihanna has always been a fashionista and, from fairly early on in her career, made her interests in that world known. In 2011, she partnered with her very first designer, Armani. A year later, Riri was on a British television show titled Styled to Rock, working to help new fashion designers boost their career. Since then, she has worked with Dior, Stance, Manolo Blahnik, and Puma.
In 2017, Rihanna launched her cosmetics company Fenty Beauty. It is targeted towards creating a broad range of cosmetics for all skin colors. Under the same business name, Rihanna created her own lingerie line titled Savage X Fenty. She has also opened up a fashion boutique store in Paris. Her cosmetics and fashion company, Fenty, is in a partnership with LVHM, which may be more familiar to you as Louis Vuitton.
On top of all of this, Rihanna has also appeared in multiple films. She has even held major roles in the films Battleship, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and Ocean’s 8.
You can watch the below Vogue YouTube video of Anna Wintour and Rihanna interviewing each other, where Rihanna states she’s hiding from the Riri Navy.
What About a New Album?
Yeah, it has been over four years since the bajan singer has dropped an album. This has Rihanna fans up in arms over whether they’ll ever hear some new music from the star. A lot of fans have even speculated that she has lost sight of her music career. In this Vice article, it is pointed out that she had a shirt in her new collection that captioned “No More Music” across the chest.
Despite that speculation, in December of 2019, Rihanna posted to her Instagram this video with the caption “update: me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it.” R9 is the title that fans have given her ninth studio album. It’s clear from this post that her new album is definitely still in the works. Riri ain’t retiring anytime soon.