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Will Rihanna Release R9 Album in 2020? See the Odds Here

Dylan Bowker

by Dylan Bowker in Entertainment

Updated Apr 22, 2020 · 11:30 AM PDT

Rihanna posing during a photoshoot
Will Rihanna finally drop her long-awaited R9 album in the year 2020? Photo by @Rih_Charts (Twitter).
  • Rihanna originally said R9 would come out last year
  • Will Rihanna finally give her Navy a new album in 2020?
  • The odds heavily favor R9 coming out before Jan. 1st, 2021

Will Rihanna release  her next album in the 2020 calendar year? She’s the subject of the latest entertainment prop.

Odds Rihanna Releases an Album in 2020

Outcome Odds
Yes -350
No +225

Odds taken Jan. 08

The aptly titled R9 will be the ninth studio album for the pop-music megastar. The record has been hotly anticipated by the Navy and the music world at large. Rihanna has given some details, suggesting that it will be heavily reggae-influenced. Mostly, though, she has been missing projected release dates and she has even trolled her fans about not releasing the album, posting videos of cute puppies dancing and talking about how she’s “listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it”.

Riri’s last record was the history-making Anti,  which came out in 2016. An Instagram post from December 2018 saw Rihanna interact with a fan, giving said fan the nebulous date of “2019” for her R9 album drop. Though she missed her nondescript deadline last year, I think Riri will come through for the Navy in 2020.

R9 in 2020?

It’s not altogether surprising that a multimedia mogul like Rihanna has experienced a bit of a hiatus, musically. Rihanna has immersed herself in a number of outside projects in the last few years. She has launched a fashion line, expanded her beauty empire, and done a lot of things outside of music. Rihanna has been carving out her path as an actor, as well.

For several months, social media has been rife with R9 discussion. People have been posting memes and a variety of videos joking about their levels of excitement and impatience. Rihanna often gets in on the fun and has been having a sense of humor about it.

It’s not even a byproduct of the record not being done. Many close to the situation indicate that the record is in the can. A lot of heavyweight collaborations are slated for the record from the worlds of hip hop, reggae, and more.

My theory is that Rihanna is putting a bow on the projects she’s currently working on before going full bore with dropping new music. Riri has a calculating business mind and I imagine she wants to fully allocate her energy towards a huge promotional effort behind R9 once it invariably drops.

Prediction

The bulk of Rihanna’s album-dropping history has seen her turn over records year to year. Since 2005, she has released a record almost every single year up until Unapologetic. That record dropped in 2012, and then there was a four-year wait time for the aforementioned Anti; her latest album.

The wait time for this latest project has been even longer. With Riri missing her 2019 deadline, I can’t see her curving fans for yet another year. My theory is that Rihanna drops R9 in the year 2020.

Pick: Yes (-350)

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