While Rihanna has spent the pandemic saving the world, Ariana Grande is spending it like the rest of us — waiting for a new Rihanna album. “I’m really glad that she’s putting in so much effort. It means a lot,” Grande told Zane Lowe of the wait for R9, in an interview promoting her Justin Bieber collab, “Stuck With U.” She continued, “I listened to ANTI every day. I think it’s time. I need it. You know what I mean? Sorry. She’s going to hate me for saying that, but I want it so bad. I get it. I appreciate it.” Rihanna recently told British Vogue that “there’s just good music, and if I feel it, I’m putting it out,” but that’s not enough for Ari. “Can you just post it and then just leave and then go back to work?” she wondered, a thought that’s crossed our minds many times. “I’m buying the undies. I’m buying the makeup. I’m streaming ANTI. I’m streaming Unapologetic. I’m streaming Loud. Every day, I really am.” No Talk That Talk? “I’m so angry because I hate when people say this to me,” Grande clarified, “but now that I’m saying it to her, it’s fine.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ariana also let slip that she worked on an unreleased song with current chart-topper Doja Cat, and we know the stans are already drafting their tweets. “I was able to work with her earlier this year on this song that I want to save for whenever it’s time again, to drop,” Grande told Lowe. When Doja Cat sent back her part, Grande remembers, “She was twerking to it, and her hair was falling off. She twerked so hard that her wig fully flew off. She had a whole verse done, everything was done. I was like, ‘First of all, you ate.’ She was like, ‘How many bars can I take? Because this is mad inspiring and I want to just go.’ And I was like, ‘Take as many bars as you want. Do it. If you’re inspired to say stuff, let’s go.’ And so she just goes off on it, and it’s so much fun, and I love it. It’s my favorite so far.” So set a good example, Ariana: Release the damn thing!