Rihanna on being black woman with LVMH, Drake and ‘coming album

Rihanna spoke to New York Times Style Magazine recently and here are highlights from the interview.

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Exclusive: A first look at #Rihanna’s new fashion line @Fenty, created in partnership with #LVMH. For her next act, the pop star will become the first black woman in charge of a major luxury fashion house in Paris. Here, @badgalriri opens up about what this means to her: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “You’re going to be black wherever you go. And I don’t know if it’s unfortunate or fortunate, because I love being black. So, sorry for those who don’t like it — that’s the first thing you see before you even hear my voice. There are also other factors: I’m young. I’m new to the family. I’m a woman. Those factors do come into play, but I will not apologize for them, and I will not back down from being a woman, from being black, from having an opinion. I’m running a company and that’s exactly what I came here to do. I don’t know if it makes people uncomfortable or not, but that’s not even my business, you know? I do know that the reason I’m here is not because I’m black. It’s because of what I have to offer. That’s what they’re invested in. And the fact that I’m black is just that: a fact.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Click the link in our bio for Rihanna’s full conversation with the playwright @JeremyOHarris, and to see more exclusive images of her new clothing line. Photographed by @KristinLeeMoolman, styled by @SuzanneKoller, makeup by @lauren.parsons, hair by Yusef (@yusefhairnyc), manicure by Jenny Longworth (@jennynails), set design by Andrew Tomlinson (@tomotattle).

A post shared by T: The NYTimes Style Magazine (@tmagazine) on May 20, 2019 at 6:03am PDT

ON BECOMING THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO CREATE AN ORIGINAL LVMH BRAND: “I didn’t even know that until months into our relationship, when Jahleel [Weaver] brought it to my attention. And I’m like, ‘Are you sure about that? Did you do your research? ‘Cause I don’t wanna state a claim that’s [expletive].’ Because I still couldn’t believe it. It made me feel proud.”

ON COLLABORATING WITH DRAKE: “Not anytime soon, I don’t see it happening. Not on this album, that’s for sure.”

ON PICKING AN ALBUM TITLE: “So far it’s just been R9, thanks to the Navy. I’m about to call it that probably, ’cause they have haunted me with this ‘R9, R9, when is R9 coming out?’ How will I accept another name after that’s been burned into my skull?”