Riri is back.
Rihanna released her first new song in three years on Friday.
The track is titled “Friend of Mine” and will feature prominently in the upcoming “Smurfs” movie, which is set to release in theaters on July 18.
“Oh, I think the word here is ‘déjà vu’ / Just met you tonight, yet you feel like a friend of mine,” she sings. “How can something so familiar be entirely new? / Just met you tonight, yet you feel like a friend of mine.”
Before the song’s official release, Rihanna, 37, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, hinted at the new track on X, along with a brand-new trailer for the forthcoming animated film.
“New Smurfs trailer featuring ‘Friend of Mine’ from the Smurfs soundtrack out Friday,” the superstar singer wrote on May 14. “Pre-save now.”
Rihanna is set to play Smurfette in “Smurfs,” with co-stars including Kurt Russell, John Goodman, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Dan Levy, and James Corden. According to Variety, she is also a producer for the movie.
The Chris Miller-directed kids’ movie will reportedly follow Rihanna’s character and the other Smurfs as they adventure out to save Papa Smurf (Goodman) from evil wizards.
“I tried to get the Papa Smurf role, but it didn’t work out,” the “Umbrella” singer joked in 2023 when the film was announced.
“Friend of Mine” marks Riri’s first new track since “Lift Me Up,” which was released on October 28, 2022, on the soundtrack for Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” superhero film.
It quickly hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that week and later went platinum.
The “We Found Love” pop star has not released an album since 2016’s “Anti,” which featured the hit songs “Work,” “Needed Me” and “Kiss It Better.”
“I’ve made a lot of songs that are really, really big songs,” she told MTV News after her eighth record was released eight years ago. “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,” Rihanna added at the time. “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.”
Meanwhile, the release of “Friend of Mine” on Friday comes just days after the “Loyalty” singer announced that she and her longtime boyfriend, rapper A$AP Rocky, are expecting their third child.
Rihanna revealed the exciting news during the 2025 Met Gala on May 5, when she showed up to the star-studded event with her pregnant belly on full display.
However, she also assured worried fans that her pregnancy would not delay the release of her long-awaited ninth album – referred to only as “R9” – any further.
“No!” she told Entertainment Tonight when asked about it at the New York City event.
“Maybe a couple videos,” Rihanna added, regarding some of the aspects of her next album that might be delayed. “But I can sing.”
