Rihanna Explains Why Her New Album Is Taking So Long To Come Out

Rihanna began her career as a musician, but since then, she’s become a lot more than that. Her fashion and cosmetics empire is booming, so much so that she is the richest female musician in the world. Still, fans want new music very, very badly. Given how busy Rihanna is now, though, it takes her more time to put out a new record than it used to. Between 2005 and 2012, she put out an album every year except for 2008, when she re-issued Good Girl Gone Bad. After that productive stretch, Rihanna’s most recent album, Anti, came out in 2016, and now she has offered an explanation for why there’s a bigger gap between records now.

Rihanna is on the cover of the upcoming issue of Interview magazine, and during her conversation with Sarah Paulson, she gave a predictable answer to that question: She has a lot more going on in her life now, which leaves her less time for music. She did say, however, that she plans on doing serious work on it soon:

“RIHANNA: It’s the reason why an album isn’t being spat out like it used to. I used to be in the studio, only the studio, for three months straight, and an album would come out. Now, it’s like a carousel. I do fashion one day, lingerie the next, beauty the next, then music the next. It’s like having a bunch of kids and you need to take care of them all.

PAULSON: Okay, but as a hungry kid, I need a new Rihanna album. How much longer do we have to wait?

RIHANNA: It really does suck that it can’t just come out, because I’m working on a really fun one right now. I’m really happy with a lot of the material we have so far, but I am not going to put it out until it’s complete. It makes no sense to rush it, but I want it out. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m like, “Even if I don’t have the time to shoot videos, I’m going to put an album out.”

PAULSON: But how much longer do we have to wait?

RIHANNA: I wish I knew. I have blocked off a solid period of time for the studio next month.”

Read the full interview here.