In the March issue of British Vogue magazine, Rihanna reflected on a plethora of things, including motherhood, her relationship with A$AP Rocky, why she finally agreed to headline the Super Bowl LVII Halftime show, and finally releasing new music, which she had hoped to release this year until she discovered that she was pregnant with her second child.
Check out all the highlights below...
On Being A First Time Mom
“Oh my God, it’s legendary,” she said of her first nine months as a mom. “It’s everything. You really don’t remember life before, that’s the craziest thing ever.
“You literally try to remember it – and there are photos of my life before – but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far because…because it doesn’t matter.”
On The Experience Of Giving Birth
“It was beautiful. But the head-f**k was real though. I cannot believe it. Essentially, from one person I became two. You walk into the hospital as a couple and leave as a family of three. It’s nuts. And oh, my gosh, those first days are insane. You don’t sleep. At all. Not even if you wanted to. We came home, cold turkey, had no one. It was just us as parents and our baby. Man, you’re a zombie for the most part.
You’re just going through the motions and even then you’re so paranoid. Because you’re like: they trusted us to come home with this baby? This new life? With us? No doctors, no nurses, we’re just… going home?”
On Deciding To Do The Super Bowl After Turning It Down In Support Of Colin Kaepernick
“For this Super Bowl I was approached a few weeks before [the announcement] and I kind of kept putting off my answer.
There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes, but it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level..
Two Super Bowls back-to-back [referring to last year’s headliners, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar] representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message.”
Of course, raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life. You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’” She shakes her head. “All of those things really start to hit differently.”
On Why She Agreed To Do The Halftime Gig Now, Shorty After Giving Birth
“It’s this knowing that you can do anything, even things that seem the craziest, like, ‘I’m going to say yes to the Super Bowl in the middle of postpartum?’
What the heck am I thinking? But you’re geeked on a challenge like that because you know what your body just did. You feel this sense of ‘Nothing is impossible.’ It was almost like an out-of-body experience [speaking of the day it was announced]. I have not been on stage in seven years. Seven years! From zero to Super Bowl? That’s mental.
I want to put on a show I want to have fun. I haven’t done this in a minute and I’m doing this for the people that love my music, the people that have supported me and gotten me to this place in my career. And who miss me as a musician in particular. It’s me really just getting back onstage – a crazy stage to be back on – but I’m really doing this for my fans.”
On Her Relationship With ASAP Rocky
“We’re best friends with a baby. We have to be on the same page, but we’ve always kind of had that in our relationship. Everything changes when you have a baby but I wouldn’t say it’s done anything but made us closer.”
On ASAP As A Dad
“I’m just sitting on the sidelines when they’re together. I’m literally the girl trying to get into the boys club, waiting for my turn. He is obsessed with his father. And I’m like: ‘Didn’t I give birth to you? What is going on?’ Their connection is undeniable. The second Rocky makes eye contact with him he is on fire. The whole thing they say about sons and moms, it’s a myth. Sons and fathers is crazy. I realised that the validation that you really need as a boy is from your father.”
On Why It's Taking So Long To Release New Music
“When you come off of an album like Anti…
In hindsight, it really is my most brilliant album. I say that because in the moment, I didn’t realise it. But it always felt like the most cohesive album I’ve ever made. When you break it down and you realise this album goes from ‘Work’ to ‘Kiss It Better’ to ‘Needed Me’ to ‘Love on the Brain’ to ‘Sex with Me’ to ‘Desperado’. And somehow it all fits and not for a second did you glitch?
But there’s this pressure that I put on myself. That if it’s not better than that then it is not even worth it. It is toxic. It’s not the right way to look at music because music is an outlet and a space to create, and you can create whatever. It doesn’t have to even be on any scale. It just has to be something that feels good. It could just be a song that I like. It literally could be that simple.”
On FINALLY Releasing The Follow-up to ANTI
“I realized that if I keep waiting until this feels right and perfect and better, maybe it’s going to keep taking forever and maybe it’ll never come out and no, I’m not down to that. So I want to play. And by play, I mean I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet.
Rihanna never stopped recording. The past years are littered with songs she’s fallen in and out of love with. She says that listening back to an unreleased song is “almost like trying to dress like you used to dress. It’s like, ‘Ew, no. I would never wear those again.’ Your taste changes, your vibe changes.” But all being well, I venture, a new album this year?
“I want it to be this year. Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos. And I need the right background music with the visuals. I can’t just go shoot a video to me talking.
Check out more photos from Rihanna, A$AP Rocky and their son’s British Vogue cover shoot, which was shot by Inez & Vinoodh below:
