Rihanna Talks Saying “No” To The Super Bowl, Love and More

In the November Issue of Vogue, music and fashion powerhouse Rihanna spoke candidly about a number of different topics including, turning down the Super Bowl halftime show, Trump being “Mentally Ill,” her love life and her long-awaited reggae-inspired album that fans have been dying for hear.

During the interview, the superstar explained why she wanted no parts of performing at the Super Bowl halftime show last year, and instead choose to stand in solidarity with currently unsigned quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Rihanna said, “’I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”

Elsewhere, Rihanna, who hasn’t released a new album since ’Anti,’ also shared more details on what we can expect on her upcoming ninth album, which will be full of reggae. She said, “I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album. It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.”

The ‘Rude Boy’ singer added that reggae music is second nature to her, “Reggae always feels right to me. It’s in my blood. It doesn’t matter how far or long removed I am from that culture or my environment that I grew up in; it never leaves. It’s always the same high. Even though I’ve explored other genres of music, it was time to go back to something that I haven’t really homed in on completely for a body of work.”

In the midst of her busy professional life, the Barbadian beauty also makes time for her love life with her boo, Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel. She admitted, “Yeah, I’m dating,” and added, “I’m actually in an exclusive relationship for quite some time, and it’s going really well, so I’m happy.”

The Barbados native also touched on politics from an activist standpoint and called out Donald Trump for how he handled the shooting in El Paso that targeted Latin people in Walmart. Rihanna said, “People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal,” she said. “That should never, ever be normal. And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist. Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart, and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem. The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.”