After nearly a decade of anticipation with the exception of the Black Panther ballads, Rihanna fans finally have new uptempo music—but it’s not quite what they imagined. Her latest release, “Friend of Mine,” arrives via the soundtrack to the upcoming Smurfs movie, where she also voices Smurfette. It’s a breezy, Afrobeats-inflected dance track, produced by Jon Bellion, Pete Nappi, and Fallen, and it leans all the way into simplicity: 29 words, looping like a mantra, over a slick, synth-laced beat.
This is Rihanna’s first lead vocal on an EDM track since 2017’s “Wild Thoughts,” and while “Friend of Mine” is more playful detour than pop reinvention, it still carries her unmistakable presence. The track’s charm lies in its restraint—it doesn’t aim to be a hit, just a vibe. The Navy, ever faithful, took it in stride. Some fans joked about the minimalism: “She said one line, y’all getting, do whatever y’all want with it.” Others simply shrugged: “You know what, we’ll take it.”
The video is just as light-handed. Rihanna strolls through a pastel field, holding an oversized flower, before giving way to a kaleidoscopic Smurf sequence complete with voguing, neon skies, and animated whimsy. It’s surreal, knowingly silly, and worlds away from the solemnity of her 2022 Black Panther ballads—“Lift Me Up” and “Born Again”—the former earning her an Oscar nomination.
Producer Jon Bellion described the song’s creation as spontaneous and joyful, born from a music camp with friends. He called it an exercise in “feel-good, family-friendly, high-taste” music—an unlikely but intentional fit for a children’s film. Rihanna wasn’t chasing another “We Found Love” or “Work.” She was, as she often is, trying something new.
And while “Friend of Mine” is technically her first original release in three years, it doesn’t read as a return—at least not the one fans have been waiting for. Rihanna has repeatedly alluded to progress on her long-awaited ninth album, R9, telling Harper’s Bazaar earlier this year that she had “cracked the code.” But when the song finally arrived, it came packaged in a mushroom-studded fantasy world, not the main-stage comeback many envisioned.
Still, “Friend of Mine” is a reminder of how easily Rihanna slips back into the sonic foreground, even when the stakes are low. It’s not the centerpiece—but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a glimmer, a flash of movement from an artist who rarely moves without meaning. And sometimes, a glimmer is enough to stir the whole room.
