Rihanna drops new song ‘Friend of Mine’ from the upcoming Smurfs movie after a 3-year hiatus

Rihanna dropped her new song Friend of Mine on May 16. The song is a part of the upcoming Smurfs soundtrack, which features Cardi B, DJ Khaled, Natania, and Subhi. According to Billboard's report dated May 16, Tyla will also participate in the film's soundtrack.

This release marks Rihanna's first release in three years. On October 28, 2022, the pop star released Lift Me Up for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Rihanna's last album, Anti, was released on January 28, 2016.

 

 

 

 

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Rihanna on her guilt and her next album

In a February 22 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Rihanna discussed how raising her two sons, RZA and Riot, and working on music simultaneously has given her a lot of guilt. For the unversed, the singer announced at the 2025 Met Gala that she was pregnant with her third child.

Rihanna said she makes every decision thinking about her sons, and often, her passion for music makes her unavailable to them. As a result, she has developed a "resentment" for the things she enjoys.

"Every decision I make revolves around them, but everything that I do that I love robs me from them. So I have a weird resentment with the things that I love. You almost feel like something is always suffering for you to show up somewhere. And even when you show up there, it's not 100 percent because there's something else on the wheel. It's actually given me a lot more self-guilt," the singer stated.

She stated that the album doesn't have a genre yet, and over the years, every time she worked on music, it didn't feel right and didn't match "her growth." She said the process made her realise that her next album has to be worth the wait and matter to her fans.

"Every time, I was just like, 'No, it's not me. It's not right. It's not matching my growth. It's not matching my evolution. I can't do this. I can't stand by this. I can't perform this for a year on tour.' After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter," she stated.

While talking about her album, the singer stated that she's satisfied with its direction. She shared that for eight years, she didn't like the music she was working on, and now she finds the process gives her "freedom."

"This feels right. It feels like it digs right into where I need to be, and I want this. This body needs to come out, and I'm ready to go there. This is becoming my new freedom, because when I'm in the studio, I know that my time away from my kids is to blossom something that hasn't been watered in eight years. I've been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn't hit me," she stated.

Rihanna voiced Smurfette in the upcoming Smurfs film. It will release in theatres on July 18, 2025.