Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Rihanna Talks A$AP Rocky, Gives Vague Update on New Album in 'Vogue'
For Vogue, Rihanna shared details about her relationship with A$AP Rocky, preparing for their first child and plans for her next album.
Rihanna is in Vogue. In a new cover story for the long-running fashion publication, the creative powerhouse talked at length about her relationship with boyfriend A$AP Rocky, how both have prepared for their upcoming bundle of joy and plans for her next album.
\u201cour lil fashion killa on da cover of VOGUE!!\n\n@voguemagazine \n\nPhotographer:\u00a0@annieleibovitz \nWriter: @nnadibynature\nFashion Editors:\u00a0\nAlex Harrington & @illjahjah \nHair: Jawara\nMakeup:\u00a0Kanako Takase\nNails: Cam Tran\nEntertainment Director: Sergio Kletnoy\u201d— Rihanna (@Rihanna) 1649764775
\u201cback at it with the legendary @annieleibovitz for @voguemagazine\u201d— Rihanna (@Rihanna) 1649765410
In the article, Rih recalled her first encounter with Rocky during the 2012 VMAs, where the rapper joined her to open the awards ceremony with the "Cockiness" remix, boldly grabbing her during the performance.
“He grabbed my ass on stage. That was not part of the rehearsal!” she says. “I was like, What are you doing!?” Rih later added that despite concerns from her team, she wasn't worried about Rocky being handsy. “My manager was like, Oh, God, she must like this guy a little bit. She never lets this shit slide," Rih said.
\u201chttps://t.co/bKcE44keJO\u201d— Rihanna (@Rihanna) 1649765410
\u201cif it\u2019s one thing ima do, is laugh out!\u201d— Rihanna (@Rihanna) 1649765803
Rih also shared that after being friends for over a decade, she let Rocky out of the "friend zone" and the two got closer during COVID lockdown in 2020, even taking a road trip from Los Angeles to New York.
“He became my family in that time,” Rih said, recalling that she'd grill barefoot as Rocky would tie-dye t-shirts from gas stations. “I cooked our food on this little janky grill I bought from Walmart,” Rih added. “I still have it, too. It works like nobody’s business."
“I love the simple things but also the grand adventures,” she also said. “There’s no pretentious my-brand-your-brand bullshit, it’s just us living. I just feel like I can do any part of life by his side.”
The Barbadian superstar also said that Rocky won over her mother, Monica Braithwaite, when they first met.
“My mother has a really good read on people. She observes first and then she’ll move slowly. I guess I’m like that too,” Rih said. “There are some guys that I’ve dated that she won’t even look at to this day. But she was charmed by him from the jump.”
Later in the cover story, Rih admitted that her 2016 effort Anti is her best album "to this day." With motherhood in her sight, the singer teases that her next album is headed in a different direction.
“I’m looking at my next project completely differently from the way I had wanted to put it out before. I think this way suits me better, a lot better,” she said. “It’s authentic, it’ll be fun for me, and it takes a lot of the pressure off.”
