Despite an album drought and the message her clothes are projecting, Rihanna insists that she is not retired from music. Nor is she pregnant, for that matter.
The “Diamonds” and “Umbrella” singer set the internet abuzz last week after stepping out in a graphic T-shirt dress that was emblazoned with “I’m Retired — This Is as Dressed Up as I Get.” The wardrobe choice led her fan base — desperate for new music from the hitmaker and frantically trying to decode the message on the frock — to believe that she had closed out her recording career.
Alas, new music is still on the horizon, and Riri has said the only retirement she has planned at the moment is from dressing to the nines.
“That was just me looking into the future. I’m not retired. I just like that dress,” the 36-year-old told “Extra” on Monday. “I got it as a gift and I loved it.… They didn’t read the second line, I’m not retired, I’m just retired from dressing up — it’s a lot of effort.”
Further teasing her fans, the singer quipped: “Wait for the ‘I Quit’ T-shirt.”
The singer, who has welcomed two children since 2022, last released an album in 2016. Her fans have waited impatiently for her “R9” album release — settling ever-so-slightly in late 2022 when the singer debuted the Oscar-nominated ballad “Lift Me Up” from the soundtrack of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The multi-hyphenate has kept plenty busy with other projects, including expanding her industry-disrupting Fenty Beauty makeup and skincare line, her newly launched Fenty Hair line and growing her family with beau ASAP Rocky.
She and the “Praise the Lord” rapper welcomed their first son RZA Athelson Mayers in May 2022 and their second, Riot Rose Mayers — a.k.a. the Super Bowl baby — in August 2023.
The “We Found Love” singer has praised motherhood since and recently told E! News that she wouldn’t mind adding “a spicy little girl” to the mix, although not anytime soon.
“Can I get my six-pack back first?” she said. “I don’t think I ever had one, but still. Let me go to Carnival one summer? Please, one summer.”
Then, in an interview with “ET,” she said she’s “definitely” hoping to have more kids, but shut down speculation about an immediate third pregnancy: “I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking.”
One new aspect of her life she’ll gladly discuss: her hair. The Grammy-winner showed off her natural curls at a Fenty Hair launch party — where just about all of the aforementioned interviews took place — and debuted a cropped blond style.
“Evolving as a woman and even as an artist, hair has been such a huge part of that and a reflection of whatever I’m feeling,” she said in a speech at event in Los Angeles on Monday (via People). “So, it changes a lot and my hair goes through a lot. Making this brand, I had to consider all of those things. I want to look fly, but I want my hair to be healthy. How do I do that? All of my products need to strengthen and repair while I’m out just being fabulous.”
