Rihanna kicked off her Grammys weekend in Los Angeles, grabbing dinner at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica on Friday. But on ceremony night, Rihanna did not make a surprise appearance on the red carpet on her own or with her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky. This isn’t unexpected: While Rihanna did have a nomination, it was in Best Song Written for Visual Media, a minor yet competitive category thanks to Barbie’s soundtrack. Rihanna’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever track, “Lift Me Up,” had gotten a nod. Rocky, meanwhile, has no nominations.
Rihanna is infamous for having not released a new album in years. She is not performing or presenting either at this year’s Grammys, nor is Rocky. Thus their absence is very understandable, especially since her category was announced during the pre-show. Billie Eilish won for her Barbie song “What Was I Made For?”.
Next year could be very different though. Last February, Rihanna teased that an album will be coming very soon; she told British Vogue, before announcing her second pregnancy at the Super Bowl, that 2023 had been the goal year to release new work.
“I want it to be this year,” she said then. “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.”
Rihanna called her last album, 2016’s Anti, her “most brilliant album.” She said its legacy and her perfectionist tendencies have been hindering her ability to release a new project.
“I realized 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,” she said of her next album. “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.”
Rihanna ultimately didn’t release an album last year, but reports broke in October that Rihanna is planning to release new music this year. Here’s hoping!