
I did a couple of songs with her, we’re still working, we’re still in the early stages, trying to come together with a massive record.” September 15, 2014: DJ Mustard confirms that he’s been working on Rihanna’s new album, saying, “We haven’t got our club record just yet but we have a ballad that I really like and that she likes too. July 7, 2014: Kiesza tells Digital Spy that Rihanna has recorded “two or three of my songs,” but that “whether they will end up on the album, I don’t know.” She mentions that one of the songs is “one that never in a million years expected her to pick out.” She uses the hashtag #R8 (more on that later). June 24, 2014: Roc Nation writer Alicia Renee posts a picture on Instagram of herself in the studio with Rihanna, saying she cried after hearing Rihanna sing one of her songs for the first time. Since she isn’t featured on his new album, that collaboration may turn up on hers. June 11, 2014: Big Sean posts a picture of him and Rihanna in the studio together on Instagram. June 4, 2014: Grimes teases a new Blood Diamonds–produced song, “Go,” that she says she wrote for Rihanna, but it was “turned down” (though it’s unclear for what project). May 16, 2014: Sia tells VH1 that she recently gave a new song to Rihanna and that her manager “flipped over it.” May 4, 2014: Complex magazine reports that Rihanna is leaving her label, Def Jam, for Jay Z’s Roc Nation, which will reportedly release her next album.

With her new album imminent, here’s a timeline of everything we know about the project so far. She’s reemerged this year next to a Beatle and with her voice stronger than ever. Beyoncé stopped the world with a surprise visual album women, for the first time in a long time, dominated the charts last year and artists are now being found guilty of stealing other artists’ “vibe.” 2015 is anyone’s to take, and Rihanna seems poised to snatch it. It’s been almost two and a half years since her last album, 2012’s Unapologetic, the longest break Rihanna has ever taken between albums. There’s no telling when Rihanna’s eighth studio album - known to fans as #R8 - could drop.

Photo: Maya Robinson and Photos by FourFiveSeconds
