14 DAY TRIAL // It will probably be one of the quietest musical releases of our times, music critics say, since it’s so uncommon for artists these days to announce a new material a little over a month before the due date. Rihanna has decided on a day to drop her latest album and, surprisingly enough, it seems to be November 23, as she wrote in her first Twitter message.
The Tweet says nothing more than, “The Wait Is Ova. Nov 23 09” and, as anyone can see, makes no mention of an album or something remotely close to that. However, word in the blogosphere and music-oriented publications is that November 23 is nothing short of the release date for Rihanna’s latest album, the one that has generated so much press and media attention in recent weeks.
This, of course, would also come to confirm earlier reports that said that Rihanna was almost done working on the album, but was waiting for early 2010 to bring it out for purely marketing reasons. Which, again, brings back to the table the question of why the “Umbrella” hitmaker has chosen to do things on such a short notice, especially since this is far from common practice in the industry. In this sense, speculation has it she’s thinking of going viral with the promo campaign for it, now that she’s also switching to a new sound.
Speaking of sound and the direction into which the new material will presumably go, not much is known at this point in time. We do know, however, that Rihanna has managed to bag some of the hottest producers and artists to work on it, including Saul Milton and Will Kennard of Chase & Status, and Justin Timberlake, who have recently spoken to the media about the album and could simply not stop praising it. Whether they were right in doing so, fans will probably learn on November 23.
“In my opinion, she’s got the world in the palm of her hand right now, based on her success with her last record. The stuff we’ve come up with in the studio, it’s the next step for her. It’s a little more grown up. It’s got some edge to it.” Justin Timberlake revealed in a recent interview, as we also reported at the time.