A$AP Rocky has confirmed that Rihanna is currently in the recording studio, offering the most direct signal yet that new music from the Barbadian artist may be on the way. In an interview on The Jason Lee Show conducted with BET and posted on Wednesday, August 5, Rocky — real name Rakim Mayers — told host Jason Lee that Rihanna is "in the studio right now" and, when pressed about a potential new album, replied simply: "she cooking" (Billboard, Complex).

Rocky reportedly said he would "get in trouble" for revealing the information, suggesting the disclosure was not part of a planned promotional rollout — the coordinated campaign a label typically runs before a release. He described Rihanna's studio activity in characteristically casual terms: "working, cooking, no funny sh*t" (Instagram). He did, however, shut down one specific rumor: when asked whether he and Rihanna would release a joint double album, Rocky denied that such a project was in the works (BBC).

The disclosure matters because Rihanna has not released a full-length album since 2016's Anti. In the decade since, she has periodically teased a follow-up without delivering one. In February 2024, Rihanna told a Harper's Bazaar reporter she felt "really optimistic" about a new album and added, "I feel like I've finally cracked it, girl!" (BBC). That statement, like Rocky's latest comments, stopped short of confirming a release date or project title.

Her output since Anti has been sparse but not nonexistent. She released the single "Lift Me Up" in 2022 for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, a track that earned an Academy Award nomination and reminded the industry of her commercial and cultural pull. Beyond music, Rihanna — real name Robyn Fenty — has built a business empire that Forbes estimates at over a billion dollars in net worth, spanning her Fenty Beauty cosmetics line and Savage X Fenty lingerie brand (BBC). She and Rocky share three children (BBC).

The couple's relationship has long been intertwined with speculation about creative collaboration. As far back as July 2021, a source cited by Entertainment Tonight said Rihanna "is very inspired" by A$AP Rocky and had recently returned to the recording studio with him (Entertainment Tonight). Around the same period, the two were spotted riding together in a Rolls Royce Cullinan (Entertainment Tonight). Five years later, the dynamic appears unchanged: Rocky continues to serve as both creative confidant and, inadvertently, a source of public information about Rihanna's musical activity.

At the 2026 Met Gala red carpet on Monday, May 4, Rocky described Rihanna as "shining like a diamond" — a nod to her 2012 smash "Diamonds" and a signal that the couple's public visibility remains high even amid a prolonged recording hiatus (Billboard). Rocky also refused to comment during the Jason Lee interview on whether he and Rihanna had married, leaving that question unresolved (BBC).

The broader context here is a music industry that has watched Rihanna pivot decisively toward entrepreneurship over the past decade, to the point that each teased return to music is weighed against her proven ability to generate revenue outside the recording booth. A billionaire who hasn't released an album in ten years operates under no conventional label pressure; whatever she records will be released on her own timeline and terms. That makes Rocky's offhand confirmation notable not as a definitive rollout signal, but as the clearest on-record indication in months that studio sessions are actively underway rather than merely aspirational. The gap between Rihanna's 2024 "I've finally cracked it" declaration and Rocky's August 2026 "she cooking" is more than two years. Whether this latest signal translates into a released project is the unanswered question — but the confirmation itself, however casually delivered, is the most concrete evidence to date that the long wait may be approaching its end.