Riri is again.
Rihanna launched her first new tune in three years on Friday.
The observe is titled “Friend of Mine” and can characteristic prominently within the upcoming “Smurfs” film, which is about to launch in theaters on July 18.
“Ooh, I think the word here is “déjà-vu” / Simply met you tonight, however you’re feeling like a good friend of mine,” she sings. “How can so familiar be so brand new? / Just met you tonight, but you feel like a friend of mine.”
Earlier than the observe’s official launch, Rihanna, 37, whose actual title is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, teased the brand new tune on X alongside a recent trailer for the upcoming animated flick.
“New Smurfs trailer featuring ‘Friend of Mine’ from the Smurfs soundtrack out Friday,” the celebrity singer wrote on Might 14. “Pre-save now.”
Rihanna will star in “Smurfs” as Smurfette alongside Kurt Russell, John Goodman, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Dan Levy and James Corden. She can be a producer on the movie, per Selection.
The Chris Miller-directed youngsters’ film will reportedly observe Rihanna’s character and the opposite Smurfs as they journey out to avoid wasting Papa Smurf (Goodman) from evil wizards.
“I tried to get the Papa Smurf role, but it didn’t work out,” the “Umbrella” singer joked in 2023 when the movie was introduced.
“Friend of Mine” marks Riri’s first new observe since “Lift Me Up,” which was launched on October 28, 2022, on the soundtrack for Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” superhero movie.
It rapidly hit No. 2 on the Billboard Scorching 100 that week and later went platinum.
The “We Found Love” pop star has not launched an album since 2016’s “Anti,” which featured the hit songs “Work,” “Needed Me” and “Kiss It Better.”
“I’ve made a lot of songs that are really, really big songs,” she instructed MTV Information after her eighth document was launched eight years in the past. “From the jump, they just blow up. And I wanted to kind of get back to – not that they weren’t real music, but I just wanted to focus on things that felt real, that felt soulful, that felt forever.”
“I wanted songs that I could perform in 15 years; I wanted an album that I could perform in 15 years,” Rihanna added on the time. “Not any songs that were burnt out. I find that when I get on stage now, I don’t want to perform a lot of my songs. They don’t feel like me. So I want to make songs that are timeless.”
In the meantime, the discharge of “Friend of Mine” on Friday comes simply days after the “Loyalty” singer introduced that she and her longtime boyfriend, rapper A$AP Rocky, expect their third baby.
Rihanna revealed the thrilling information in the course of the 2025 Met Gala on Might 5, when she confirmed as much as the star-studded occasion together with her pregnant stomach on full show.
Nonetheless, she additionally assured frightened followers that her being pregnant wouldn’t delay the discharge of her long-awaited ninth album – referred to solely as “R9” – any additional.
“No!” she instructed Leisure Tonight when requested about it on the New York Metropolis occasion.
“Maybe a couple videos,” Rihanna added, concerning among the features of her subsequent album that is likely to be delayed. “But I can sing.”
