Rihanna Slips Into Late Night Studio Session and Now the Rih Navy Thinks the Album Is Finally Loading [Video]

Rihanna is officially back in the lab, and the Navy is ready to sound the alarms. On Thursday, the superstar shared a “day in the life” video on social media that chronicled her non-stop schedule, from high-level brand meetings to hands-on parenting.

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While fans loved seeing her design a Mardi Gras outfit for her son, RZA, the real highlight came during the early morning hours. The video showed Rihanna deep in a studio session, working behind the boards well into the 2:00 AM hour and staying until the sun came up.

The sight of Rihanna in the studio was enough to have her fans hoping that her long-awaited ninth studio album could actually be on the way. It has been a decade since her last album, “Anti,” was released, making this the longest gap in her musical career. While she has spent that time building a billion-dollar beauty and fashion empire, the “commercial break” she took to record has everyone questioning if a full-length project is finally near or if she is simply exploring new creative ideas.

Rihanna previously touched on the pressure of following up such a successful discography. In a 2025 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she admitted that she has been in the studio for “the whole eight years” since the release of “Anti,” but she could not figure out the direction that she wanted to take her ninth studio album. She described a meticulous process of trial and error as she searched for a sound that felt true to her current stage of life.

“I was searching for it,” she said. “I went through phases of what I wanted to do. ‘This kind of album, not that album.’ I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects. And it’s not going to be commercial or radio digestible. It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!”

Many fans are expecting some music now that there is video confirmation that Rihanna is in the studio, especially with her logging sessions until 5 a.m. Whether it’s for the elusive R9 or a different artistic endeavor, the world is definitely watching.