Rihanna is fresh off an impressive performance at the halftime show at Super Bowl this past Sunday.
Today, her first official interview after the birth of her baby boy has been released, with British Vogue. A few photos from the shoot had previously leaked, which Rihanna even addressed it during the chat. “It’s the thing you never want to happen,” she says, recalling the moment when paparazzi clicked photos at the shoot. “We get to decide as parents when and how we do that. End of story. Throw me to the wolves. Do what you want with me. But he doesn’t have a say in any of this. We’ve been protecting him thus far and you don’t have any consent to be posting photos or selling photos of my child, a minor. Get the hell out of here with that.”
Because of the incident, she decided to reveal the first look herself by joining TikTok and uploading some home-shot clips.
In rest of the interview, RiRi addresses taking the big decision of performing at the Halftime show, relationship with ASAP Rocky, life as a mother, and of course the possibility of a new album. She says she does feel a lot of pressure coming off Anti as she believes that’s her best album to date.
“When you come off of an album like Anti… In hindsight, it really is my most brilliant album. I say that because in the moment, I didn’t realise it. But it always felt like the most cohesive album I’ve ever made. When you break it down and you realise this album goes from ‘Work’ to ‘Kiss It Better’ to ‘Needed Me’ to ‘Love on the Brain’ to ‘Sex with Me’ to ‘Desperado’.” She beams. “And somehow it all fits and not for a second did you glitch?”
“But there’s this pressure that I put on myself,” she continues. “That if it’s not better than that then it is not even worth it. It is toxic. You’re right. It’s not the right way to look at music because music is an outlet and a space to create, and you can create whatever. It doesn’t have to even be on any scale. It just has to be something that feels good. It could just be a song that I like. It literally could be that simple.”
“So I realised that if I keep waiting until this feels right and perfect and better, maybe it’s going to keep taking forever and maybe it’ll never come out and no, I’m not down to that. So I want to play. And by play, I mean I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet,” she continues to tell her perspective.
The superstar singer then says that she hopes to release a new album this year. “I want it to be this year. Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos. And I need the right background music with the visuals. I can’t just go shoot a video to me talking,” she says.