Speaking to MTV News, she says:
“I’ve made a lot of songs that are really, really big songs. 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. 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.”Good for her. Every artist should have this mindset to put out timeless songs during some stage in their career. Sure, many newcoming artists adhere to their label's demands of releasing commercial pop music at first. This is because they realise the importance of establishing themselves and creating their own success so later on down the line, they can put their foot down and say, "okay, it is now time for me to make the album I've always wanted to make." Rihanna is eight albums in, so she has more than enough power to go against the grain and defy label demands to carry on releasing radio friendly pop tunes just so that she can maintain her chart-topping streak. I am more excited than ever for R8. A more soulful Rihanna? Hell yeah!