Rihanna Says Despite Her Busy Schedule, Making Music Will Always Be A Priority

Rihanna is the subject of a new Vogue cover story, and among other things, she discusses her upcoming music. Fans will be happy to hear that despite the various endeavors Rihanna is involved in these days, she is insistent that music is still a priority.

Rihanna was asked if she foresees “a day when she might decide that, in fact, there will be no more music,” and she responded emphatically: “Oh, nooo. Music is, like, speaking in code to the world, where they get it. It’s the weird language that connects me to them. Me the designer, me the woman who creates makeup and lingerie — it all started with music. It was my first pen pal-ship to the world. To cut that off is to cut my communication off. All of these other things flourish on top of that foundation.”

While she is busy with things beyond music, she insists that she’s been trying to make time for recording new material, saying, “I have been trying to get back into the studio. It’s not like I can lock myself in for an extended amount of time, like I had the luxury of doing before. I know I have some very unhappy fans who don’t understand the inside bits of how it works.”

She also spoke about the previously discussed reggae influence her upcoming music has, saying, “I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album. It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks. Reggae always feels right to me. It’s in my blood. It doesn’t matter how far or long removed I am from that culture, or my environment that I grew up in; it never leaves. It’s always the same high. Even though I’ve explored other genres of music, it was time to go back to something that I haven’t really homed in on completely for a body of work.”

Finally, she was asked about a release date, and she responded with a nod to her passionate fan base: “No, oh my God, they’re gonna kill you for that! And they’re going to kill me more! I’m talking the Navy — my scary fans. But they’ve earned it. They got me here.”

Read the full Vogue feature here.