Still waiting on the album, but Rihanna is dropping a new song this week for the first time in 3 years: Here’s what we know

The wait is finally over for Rihanna fans who have been patiently holding out for the singer to release some new material. On Wednesday, we were treated to a snippet of her latest work, Friend of Mine which features in the official trailer for Chris Miller‘s new Smurfs movie, which will hit theaters in July.

Rihanna joins the Smurfs’ rescue mission

The Umbrella singer stars alongside Natasha Lyonne, Hannah Waddingham and Kurt Russell in the movie, as the voice of Smurfette, who “leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save Papa Smurf” [John Goodman] after he was “mysteriously taken by evil wizards‚” and held hostage inside Razamel’s Castle, according the official press blurb. “With the help of new friends, the Smurfs must discover what defines their destiny to save the universe...”

In the 2:26 minute trailer, Rihanna can be seen laughing adjusting her headphones as she prepares to lay down her vocal track in the studio. Cut to her character Smurfette who leads her fellow smurfs through a dance routine complete with a DJ cutting up the beats. Things take a turn when Papa Smurf is sucked into a UFO and whisked away to Razamel’s Castle. The smurfs set out to rescue him with help from their furry friends, the Snooterpoots.

Ri’s new song, Friend of Mine will be officially released in full on Friday May 16.

It is her first new work since 2022’s Lift Me Up, issued on Def Jam for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. The singer has been keeping a low profile since the birth to their second son in 2023.

Is Rihanna working on a new album?

Last year, she told Interview magazine that she was working on new material: “I have a lot of visual ideas. It’s weird. My brain is working backward right now. I usually have the music first, and the music leads me into all of these visual opportunities, and now I’m having all of these visuals, and I don’t have the songs for them yet, but maybe that’s the key, this time,” she explained. “Maybe the visual ideas are leading me to the songs that I need to make. Random ideas, quirky ideas, things that have nothing to do with me at all. I mean, I can’t tell you. The opps is watching...”

The Smurfs movie is set to hit theaters July 18 and who knows, maybe a new Rihanna album will follow. Earlier this year, she hinted to Harper’s Bazaar that she “just cracked the code on what I really want to do for my next body of work. I am actually feeling really good about this.”

In the meantime, Ri and A$AP Rocky are expecting third child, so watch this space...

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