Rihanna Finally Revealed Her Next Album Is Dropping Much Sooner Than Expected

It's been a hot minute since a new Rihanna song was dominating the charts, but the singer finally revealed a little hint about new music coming soon. With that, you might be wondering: Is Rihanna releasing an album in 2019? The Barbadian superstar has been busy building her Fenty Beauty empire, launching a line of lingerie, and getting into acting, but it's been almost three years since Anti dropped — and we need new jams to dance to. Luckily, it looks like RiRi feels the same way, because she finally revealed that new music is on the way in the new year. Elite Daily reached out to Rihanna's team for further comment on the news, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

On Saturday, Dec. 22, the "Work" hitmaker, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, took to Instagram to share a promo photo of herself modeling some products from her Fenty Beauty line and looking all kinds of flawless. While I'm a big fan of RiRi's other projects and respect her for dominating the game in so many different industries, I think we can all agree that it's been way too long since we had some new material from everyone's favorite BadGal. And in the comments section, one fan asked the question that's on everybody's mind: "But when is the album dropping Robyn? Can we have a release date for that?"

The "Where Have You Been" songstress' unexpected response, which was short but to the point, immediately set off a frenzy among her fans.

She simply wrote, "2019," confirming that a whole set list of new hits would be coming our way sometime in the new year. TBH, the news is the best Christmas present she could gift her fans, who've been waiting for a musical follow-up from the star since 2016's Anti. Unfortunately, she didn't provide any other details — Elite Daily reached out to Rihanna's team to inquire about a release date, album name, and possible tour, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

In other words, there's a chance that we could be hearing this album in one month or in 12 months, although I'm definitely hoping it's the former. While RiRi is staying mum on the exact timing, however, we do know a little about what the album will probably sound like.

In her June cover story for Vogue, Rihanna revealed that she plans to create a reggae album. While she didn't share whether past collaborators like Drake would be making an appearance, interviewer Chioma Nnadi wrote, "One early influence may be Supa Dups, the Jamaican-born record producer who has worked with such dancehall greats as Beenie Man, Sean Paul, and Elephant Man."

Whoever she has on there, the result is reportedly "amazing." Just a few days ago on Dec. 19, Rihanna's vocal producer for Anti Kuk Harrell revealed on Instagram Live that he's already heard her ninth studio album, which he called R9, and that he's a huge fan.

"R9 is great," he told viewers, according to Vibe. "R9 is amazing. It's incredible, And that's all I'm going to say."

So, could Rihanna be blessing our ears with her upcoming album sooner rather than later? I'm crossing my fingers.