Rihanna is a busy woman, running a fashion empire and raising a family. She has no time for albums.
When Complex asked Rihanna, 35, her pick for album of the year at her FENTY x PUMA sneaker launch on December 18, she took a moment to think. “Am I an ‘album’ girl?” she said rhetorically. “Or am I a ‘streaming single’ girl?” She confirmed that was the latter because instead of picking a top album for 2023, she shared her top two songs.
Her first selection was Davido’s “Unavailable,” a song from the Afrobeats superstar’s Timeless album that featured Musa Keys. Her second selection was “Mnike” – “It’s spelled M-N-I-K-E,” she emphasized – from Tyler ICU and Tumelo.za.
The “Umbrella” singer also spoke about her current creative era. “I’m in an era of discovery,” she told Complex. “And maybe it’s rediscovery because so much is changing, and some things are fleeting. And some things are yet to be discovered, right? And I’m in the center of all of that.”
She added that she was “excited for what is to come because I have the feeling of what it is. But I can’t put it into words, and I know the journey is going to be exciting of getting there. And that’s not just with fashion or my daily routine… with music, all of it! I’m really excited to explore things right now.”
Rihanna has not released an album since 2016’s Anti, and fans have been eagerly anticipating a follow-up. After launching her fashion and beauty empire with Savage x Fenty, Fenty Beauty, and FENTY X PUMA, Rihanna returned to music with “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again,” two cuts from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“Lift Me Up” scored a Grammy Nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media, the category’s only nomination not from the Barbie movie soundtrack.
On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences released a shortlist for the Best Original Song category, per Billboard. “Lift Me Up” wasn’t included in the list, while three songs from Barbie — Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night,” Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and the Ryan Gosling-sung “I’m Just Ken” – were included. However, Rihanna’s partner, ASAP Rocky, was on the shortlist for “Am I Dreaming,” the Metro Boomin-helmed song from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Rihanna and Rocky share two sons.
