Entertainment Music Rihanna Says She Has a 'Lot of Visual Ideas' for New Music — but Doesn't 'Have the Songs' Yet The superstar offered an update regarding her long-awaited follow-up to 2016's 'Anti' By Sadie Bell Sadie Bell Sadie Bell is a Digital News Writer on the Music team at PEOPLE. She joined PEOPLE in 2023. Her work has previously appeared in Alternative Press, Billboard, NYLON, Rolling Stone, and Thrillist. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 9, 2024 12:35PM EDT Rihanna in Los Angeles in December 2023. Photo: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Fans have been patiently waiting on R9 for years — and so has Rihanna, as she's been mulling over the right ideas for new music. Rihanna appears on the cover of Interview Magazine's spring 2024 issue and opened up in the conversation about her long-awaited return to music, since she's spent the past few years focusing on her Fenty beauty and fashion efforts and raising her two sons. While the superstar, 36, admitted that she hasn't moved on from music entirely, she shared that she has ideas for the visuals for her next album, but doesn't "have the songs for them yet." "I have a lot of visual ideas," the nine-time Grammy winner told the outlet. Rihanna performing in the 2023 Super Bowl at State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona in February 2023. Ezra Shaw/Getty Rihanna Says She Wants as Many Kids as 'God Wants Me to Have': 'I Would Try for My Girl' Riri continued, "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." The hitmaker admitted, "I don’t have the songs for them yet." Despite not having the concepts or tracks in mind right now, Rihanna expressed feeling positively towards her next album. "But maybe that’s the key, this time," she said. "Maybe the visual ideas are leading me to the songs that I need to make." When asked by Interview Magazine if the visuals signify a "rebirth" of the Barbados-bred star, she explained that she has "random ideas, quirky ideas, things that have nothing to do with me at all." "I mean, I can’t tell you," the "Work" singer jokingly added. "The opps is watching." Rihanna performing at the 95th annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles in March 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Rihanna Wants Her Sons to 'Embrace' Their Individuality as They Grow Up: 'Love Them Just That Way' The Savage x Fenty founder also shared that it wasn't necessarily her plan to step away from music for as long as she has. When asked whether she could have fathomed 10 or 15 years ago where her life has ended up — now that she's a successful entrepreneur and the mother of two with her partner A$AP Rocky — Rihanna said, "I wouldn’t have had any idea." "The only thing that I knew I wanted, or that I could imagine, was motherhood," shared the "Diamonds" singer, who welcomed her first born, RZA, in May 2022 and her second son, Riot, in August 2023. "I didn’t know how it would come, but it is the best part of my journey so far. Everything else was a surprise." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Fans have been clamoring for a new album from the "We Found Love" singer for years — so much so that their impatience for the new album that's been dubbed R9 and Rihanna's busy schedule focusing on other things has become a meme on social media. She last released a full-length record in 2016 with the acclaimed, eighth studio album Anti. The project, which featured hits like "Kiss It Better," "Love on the Brain," "Needed Me" and "Work," received six nominations at the 2017 Grammys and saw the recording artist reaching new sonic feats. Rihanna at Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 in January 2024 in Paris. Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Rihanna and A$AP Rocky's Relationship Timeline Since Anti dropped, the pop star has only released a handful of collaborations and one-off tracks, like the hit single "Lift Me Up" from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, which garnered nominations at the Oscars, Golden Globes and Grammys. Fans suspected that new music was on the way in 2023 when Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl halftime show, but it never came, and since then she's only taken to the stage once more. In late March, she performed a mini concert in India as a part of billionaire heir Anant Ambani’s three-day pre-wedding celebration. Ahead of the Super Bowl last year, the "Umbrella" singer told Good Morning America that she knows her fans are "waiting" and is "excited to actually put new music out," but wasn't able to share any concrete updates. More recently, Riri's longtime producer James Fauntleroy confirmed to PEOPLE in a December 2023 interview that he was working with the singer again and said at the time that "the last session I did for her was last week." In February, A$AP Rocky, 35, was also captured being asked by fans on the streets of Paris for an update on Rihanna's Anti follow-up, to which he smiled and said, "She's working on it."