Rihanna got her fans attention this morning when she took to Instagram Live to publish a short video of herself in a bikini featuring a Diplo face filter.
More significantly, she tagged the video with #R9 her fans name for her ninth studio album. The video was accompanied by Diplo‘s 2020 track, “Looking for Me.”
Diplo reposted the video on his own Instagram feed where he expressed pleasant surprise with a caption reading, “This happened today.”
It’s hard to say what message Rihanna was sending by choosing Diplo’s song. Certainly her fans have been looking for music. Some think the song points at a possible collaboration between Rihanna and Diplo (real name Thomas Pentz). However, the two artists have yet to work together and Rihanna once famously described Diplo’s take on reggae as sounding “like a reggae song at an airport.”
Rihanna subsequently apologized for the jab and there were rumors way back in 2018 via producer Alesso that Rihanna planned to make a dance music album and was working with Diplo, Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Martin Garrix. Not long after, he walked back the statement.
Bolstering signs Rihanna is planning to drop new music, Puerto Rican reggaeton rapper Bad Bunny (real name Benito Ocasio) also referenced Rihanna on Instagram where he posted an image of her in a bikini backed by “Dákiti,” a single released in October 2020.
Interesting this is popping up less than a week after Fenty was shuttered. Perhaps clearing some space for a big new project??
