The song will appear on the forthcoming ‚Smurfs‘ soundtrack
Rihanna has released her first new single in almost three years – listen to ‘Friend Of Mine’ below.
The song was recorded for the Smurfs soundtrack, with the singer set to star as Smurfette in the upcoming animated film.
It marks Rihanna’s first material since ‘Born Again’, which arrived in November 2022 from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She previously shared ‘Lift Me Up’ from the movie.
The energetic Afrobeats-influenced ‘Friend Of Mine’ sees RiRi perform over a rhythmic tribal drum beat, following an infectious vocal sample intro. “Ooh, I think the word here is ‘déjà-vu’/ Just met you tonight, but you feel like a friend of mine,” she sings.
‘Friend Of Mine’ is the second song to come off the Smurfs soundtrack, after ‘Higher Love’ by Desi Trill featuring DJ Khaled, Cardi B, Natania and Subhi. The album arrives on June 13 via Roc Nation Distribution (pre-save here).
Rihanna’s eighth and most recent studio album, ‘Anti’, arrived in 2016. Last summer, she told fans that she was “starting over” with her long-awaited follow-up LP and “rediscovering things”.
The star then said earlier this year that she had “finally cracked it” when talking about the “kind of album” she wanted to make. However, Rihanna explained that the project was “not going to be anything that anybody expects”. She added: “And it’s not going to be commercial or radio, digestible. It’s going to be where my artistry deserves to be right now.”
After revealing that she was expecting her third child with partner A$AP Rocky, RiRi gave another update on the progress of her next album this month.
When asked if the record – dubbed ‘R9’ – would be “put on pause even longer”, she replied: “Maybe a couple [of] videos”, suggesting that any plans for music videos would have to wait until after the baby is born.
As for whether work on the record itself was being pushed back, Rihanna simply responded: “I can sing.”
There had previously been reports that the singer would be staging a huge London Stadium residency this summer, though these plans appear to have been scrapped.
Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2023, which was her first performance in seven years. The singer later delivered a powerful performance of ‘Lift Me Up’ at that year’s Oscars.
In early 2024, Rihanna played her first full live show in eight years at an Indian billionaire heir’s wedding ceremony.
Smurfs arrives in cinemas on July 18. The cast also features the likes of James Corden, Daniel Levy, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll and Hannah Waddingham.
Meanwhile, Rihanna recently revealed that 2016’s ‘Anti’ is the only album of hers that she can listen to without “shame”.
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Rihanna shares ‘Friend Of Mine’ – her first new single since 2022 – NME
