Rihanna has reportedly cancelled her highly-anticipated comeback shows this summer, just days before they were to be announced. The superstar, 37, had been rumoured to be planning a six-concert residency in London in July to mark her return to music, after she confirmed production on her first album in nine years was underway. However, it has now been reported that Rihanna pulled out of the proposed gigs at West Ham’s London Stadium in a secret meeting last week, just before they were set to be publicly confirmed.
According to The Sun, the singer didn’t think her new music was ready and bosses are now trying desperately to convince her to change her mind. A music insider told the publication: ‘Rihanna hasn’t toured in over eight years and the plan to get her back on stage has been ongoing for at least three. She had been eager to get back to it because the demand is certainly there, but she got cold feet. ‘It doesn’t feel like the right time and she dropped the bombshell last week that she doesn’t want to go ahead with the concerts in July as had been planned.
Rihanna has reportedly cancelled her highly-anticipated comeback shows this summer, just days before they were to be announced (pictured October)
The superstar, 37, had been rumoured to be planning a six-concert residency in London in July to mark her return to music, after she confirmed production on her first album in nine years was underway (seen at 2023 Super Bowl) ‘The announcement of the shows had already been delayed, but as Rihanna fans are used to doing, they will just have to keep on waiting.’ It comes after music insiders claimed to The Telegraph last month that Rihanna was lining up shows at London Stadium for July 4 and 5, with other possible concerts set for July 8, 9, 11 and 12.
A second source told the publication that her promoters are ‘holding’ the arena – formerly the Olympic Stadium – for her, with preparations in the advance planning stages. The run of concerts would’ve been Rihanna’s first in almost a decade, after the release of her last album Anti in 2016. The Umbrella hitmaker finally confirmed her ninth album was on its way in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last month. She sent fans wild as she teased she’s ‘cracked the code’ on her ‘next body of work’ and that it ‘feels right.’ Rihanna told the outlet: ‘This time away from from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to matter. I have to show them it was worth the wait.’
The run of concerts would’ve been Rihanna’s first in almost a decade, after the release of her last album Anti in 2016 (pictured on Anti World Tour in 2016). She gushed that she is ‘really optimistic’ about the fresh tunes, while also admitting that it’s ‘not going to be anything that anybody expects’ — leading to further speculation. She said: ‘This feels right. It feels like it digs right into where I need to be, and I want this. This body needs to come out, and I’m ready to go there.’
Rihanna ‘is tipped to headline Glastonbury for the first time ever as she plans huge London residency’. The Barbadian pop star also explained that her time in the studio is different now that she is a mother-of-two, while confessing: ‘I’ve been in the studio the whole eight years.’ Rihanna shares sons RZA, two, and Riot, 18-months with her boyfriend rapper A$AP Rocky — who was recently found not guilty in a gun assault trial.
She admitted: ‘This is becoming my new freedom. Because when I’m in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids [RZA and Riot] is to blossom something that hasn’t been watered in eight years.’ She also shared that her journey to finding her new sound took time as she recognised she wanted her new music to sound different than fans last heard from her in 2016. Rihanna said: ‘But it didn’t hit me. I was searching for it. I went through phases of what I wanted to do. “This kind of album, not that album”. ‘I know it’s not going to be anything that anybody expects. And it’s not going to be commercial or radio digestible.
The Umbrella hitmaker finally confirmed her ninth album was on its way in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last month (pictured in October)
She explained that her time in the studio is different now that she is a mother – sharing sons RZA, two, and Riot, 18 months with her boyfriend rapper A$AP Rocky (all three pictured). ‘It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!’
However, the Fenty Beauty mogul debunked the long-running rumours that her new LP would be a reggae album. She clarified: ‘There’s no genre now. That’s why I waited. Every time, I was just like, “No, it’s not me. It’s not right. It’s not matching my growth. It’s not matching my evolution. I can’t do this.” ‘I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.’
