After confirming new music was on the way, Rihanna has reportedly postponed her booked gigs in the UK – days before she was due to announce them.
It’s been nine years since we last heard new music from the Umbrella icon and over three years since her legendary Super Bowl performance.
A musical return appeared less and less likely with every passing year, with her hiatus almost as long as her active music career – until recently.
She had reportedly booked a six-show run at West Ham’s Stadium as soon as July to reclaim her chart-topping status among the pop queens.
Riri was not revealed as a Glastonbury 2025 headliner (despite heavy speculation) but fans were holding onto the possibility of tour dates in London.
The Diamonds hitmaker confirmed she had been in the studio but an insider has told The Sun that the anticipated tour is being delayed.
According to the source, after a secret meeting this week the announcement was pushed back, despite being days away from going public.
They said: ‘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.’
During those eight years, the pop legend has been starting her family with A$AP Rocky, welcoming their children; RZA, two, and Riot, 18 months.
She’s also been dominating the makeup industry as the founder of Fenty Beauty, along with plenty of fashion brands.
The insider continued: ‘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.
‘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.’
All is not lost as Riri has said releasing new music ‘feels right’ during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last month.
She shared: ‘After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter.
‘I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.’
Anti, which got the best reviews of her career and became an instant classic with tracks like Work, Needed Me, and Kiss It Better.
Teasing the sound, her Anti followup is ‘not going to be anything that anybody expects.’
‘It’s not going to be commercial or radio-digestible,’ she added. ‘It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now. I feel like I’ve finally cracked it, girl!’
Plenty of collaborations have been promised for her long-awaited record, including Alesso and Diplo.
Metro has reached out to Rihanna’s reps for comment.
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