Rihanna Hints She's Retiring From Music and Moving on to More "Authentic" Projects

"I always say music was the thing that got the attention, but God had other plans for me."

Rihanna wears a long-sleeved orange dress, large diamond hoop earrings, and has long straight black hair
(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Bergdorf Goodman)

Rihanna may be about to break the hearts of millions of fans. Having previously denied she was retiring from her extremely successful music career, the makeup mogul suggested in a new speech that she's moving on.

In a video shared on X, which was filmed at a Fenty Beauty event in Barbados on Thursday, Nov. 7, Rihanna gave an impassioned speech about her career.

"I always say music was the thing that got the attention, but God had other plans for me," she told the crowd.

"I was able to create in other ways that were very sincere, genuine, organic and authentic to the things that I love so it doesn’t even feel like a job," Rihanna explained. "But when you bring it home, I can express to you guys what this day means for me to be able to celebrate with the people that deserve it the most."

Rihanna wears all red and is surrounded by male dancers wearing white

(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Back in June, Rihanna scared her music fans when she wore a shirt dress emblazoned with the words "I'm Retired" during an outing in New York City. "This is as dressed-up as I get" was written underneath the inflammatory statement.

The "Sledgehammer" singer's devotees were so upset, in fact, that she gave an interview to dispel the rumors.

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Rihanna referenced the second phrase on the shirt dress, saying, "No-one read the other line."

Rihanna

(Image credit: Getty Images)

She continued, "People got triggered with that 'Retired' word. They were like, 'We're never getting an album now.'"

Rihanna was officially declared a billionaire in August 2021, with Forbes predicting the singer was worth an incredible $1.7 billion. At the time, the majority of Rihanna's wealth was due to her 50% ownership of Fenty Beauty. Multiple other endeavors, including lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, and her impressive music career, made up the rest of Rihanna's fortune.

TOPICS
Amy Mackelden
Contributing Editor

Amy Mackelden is a contributing editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.