Rihanna Plans Work With Alchemist and Knxwledge for New Album

Rihanna wants to collaborate with hip-hop producers Alchemist and Knxwledge on her next album. A$AP Rocky revealed this during a recent January 2026 interview.

"Yo, she be encouraging me," A$AP Rocky told the show's hosts, according to Complex. "Her style is so crazy, 'cause you wouldn't expect her to like the people she f*k with. She f*k with Alchemist. That's who she wanna work with."

The singer has an interest in Knxwledge, too. The beatmaker gained recognition through his work with Anderson Paak as NxWorries.

A$AP Rocky started sharing more about upcoming projects. Then he stopped. "Wait 'til you...," he said before cutting himself off mid-thought. He worried he'd said too much. "See, I shouldn't even be doing all this 'cause now her fans, they gonna be all over me."

Rihanna's last album dropped almost ten years ago. Fans wondered if she'd abandoned music to run her Fenty brand full-time.

During a conversation with Harper's Bazaar, she explained that music remains a cathartic experience. She said there's no set genre yet.

"There's no genre now. That's why I waited," Rihanna said. "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.'"

She added that the time away from music needs to count. "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," the singer said. "It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait."