Rihanna wants to make ‘weird’ new music that ‘might not ever make sense to my fans’

‘I just want to play, I want to have fun,’ singer said of her long-awaited return

Rihanna has said that she wants to get “weird” with her new music ahead of her live performance return at the Super Bowl.

The “Umbrella” singer is the headline performer at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, which is taking place on Sunday (12 February).

You can find out more information about how to watch the halftime show here.

Rihanna last performed live seven years ago in 2016, when her most recent album Anti was released. Despite regular rumours that a new album is imminent, nothing has been released since.

Speaking at a press conference for the halftime show on Thursday (9 February), Rihanna was questioned about her current feelings towards creating new music.

“Musically, I’m feeling open,” she said. “I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating. Things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans, the people that know the music that I’ve put out.

“But I just want to play, I want to have fun. I want to have fun with music.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Rihanna admitted that the setlist for the halftime show was still yet to be decided, saying that “there are probably 39 different versions of the setlist right now”.

Rihanna will return to the stage at the Super Bowl this week (Getty Images)

“The setlist was the biggest challenge,” she said. “That was the hardest, hardest part, deciding how to maximise 13 minutes... That’s what this show is going to be, it’s going to be a celebration of my catalogue in the best way that we could have put it together.”

She explained: “You only have 13 minutes, that’s the challenge, so you’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes. It’s difficult – some songs we’ve had to lose because of that and that’s going to be OK. But I think we did a pretty good job at narrowing it down.”

The Super Bowl will take place on Sunday at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and see the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs.