Rihanna confirms she’s back in studio with Pharrell Williams for new album R9

Rihanna has teased fans by confirming she is back in the studio with Pharrell Williams, after initially having promised to drop a new album last year.

The Anti star, 31, shared a photo of a mixing desk with ‘The Neptunes’ written in lights – aka the production duo made up of Pharrell and Chad Hugo.

She captioned the snap on her Instagram story: ‘gang. back in da STU’.

Pharrell also shared Rihanna’s snap and added a flame emoji – suggesting the pair have been cooking up something good (though let’s be honest, anything made by Rihanna and The Neptunes is never going to be anything short of epic).

Rihanna had initially promised her fans that she would drop the next album, dubbed R9, in 2019, but despite several hints and teases the record never actually materialised.

When asked about the album, Rihanna told Entertainment Tonight: ‘To be continued… I like to antagonise my fans a little bit.’

She added: ‘Well, they antagonise me too! So they get it right back.’

Rihanna had promised to The Cut that she and Pharrell would get in the studio on Valentine’s Day, which she made good on.

She had said: ‘I’m going to be in the studio. I’m so excited actually. I can’t say who I’m working with, but it’s somebody I’ve been wanting to work with him for a long time. Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s Pharrell.’

Rihanna and Pharrell last teamed up on a track in 2017, working together on his group N.E.R.D’s song Lemon.

Meanwhile, fans of RiRi have been waiting since 2016 – when she released Anti – for a new album after her last offering went double platinum.

Since then, she’s dropped fashion collection after fashion collection with her Fenty and Savage x Fenty lines, as well as multiple new drops from her Fenty Beauty collection.

Here’s hoping we get to hear what she and Pharrell have been up to very soon.

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