As muddy messes go, few can rival the all-round ridiculousness of Rihanna‘s eighth album roll-out.
Despite being a part-time singer, but a full time model, the star is – for some strange reason – pursuing the lane of an artiste.
A path, unsurprisingly, that is leading her and the project down a hole some say she’ll struggle to climb out of.
Parallel to the disaster, though, has been a candle of hope from fans that the 27-year-old is cooking up a master-plan of sorts that will reveal itself in a mere moment. “Rihvember” they’ve tirelessly taken to Twitter to chant.
And yet, in the new issue of NME, the Bajan beauty has not only revealed that the project isn’t near completion, she cites Kanye West as one of the causes.
The tea is poured below…
Speaking to editor Peter Robinson, Rih says of the LP:
“It’s not done.
To me it’s never done until it’s done. Until the final moment.”
And just so it’s hammered home that she wasn’t being elusive for elusive sake, she alludes to the fact that Kanye’s executive producer position is one of the causes for the hold-up:
“Now we [Kanye and I] just have to wait to get back in the studio together. His schedule and mine are totally opposite right now, but I think this month we’ll be back in the studio.”
As for the material she’s worked on thus far, she explained:
“I have so many songs I love – and they’re so different – that it’s hard to actually put them all on the same album.”
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It’s official. ‘R8’ is an undeniable disaster.
And the saddest part of the whole episode is that it never ever had to be.
As the legendary career of Whitney Houston showed (don’t judge us just yet for the comparison), it’s not every singer’s calling to mould their music.
Now, granted Rih’s voice couldn’t hold a candle to Whitney’s, there’s a commonality in that letting others take the helm of their music and imagery is something that has almost always worked for them both.
Notice how it’s when Ms. Fenty attempts to steer the ship herself (ten years into her career we must add) that chaos ensues – as well as so-so singles with so-so chart placements to match. Choosing to add Kanye into the mix re-affirms just how out of touch with her own product the Westbury Road “label head” is.
At this rate, she’s better off striking ‘R8’ from everyone’s release schedule and pressing on to “R9” with the usual suspects to help bake the hits she clearly hasn’t learned the recipes for herself.
Oh and of course, cart out the compulsory new wig.