Music copyright websites like BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and more have become Stan Twitter’s best friend during the lead up to highly-anticipated pop albums, especially in the case of Rihanna‘s #R9 and #R10.
In the three years since Rihanna blessed us with her critically acclaimed project, ‘Anti,’ the Navy has played detective looking in the every corner of the internet for possible clues on the new album. Fans have already been given hints here and there on the project, including reports that it’ll be inspired by the reggae genre and potentially even split up into two different projects (hence #R10). The hunt for new tracks is fairly simple for those not yet familiar: visit a music copyright search engine, enter “Rihanna” or her birth name “Robyn R. Fenty” in the writer/performer category, and see what pops up.
The results over the past couple years have ranged from convincing to downright fake. Registered track titles credited to Rihanna like “Gwan Look Pon It” and “Where D The Magic Go” appear to be in line with the promised reggae theme, while the title “Private Loving” listed under Robyn Fenty‘s BMI songwriting credits has been shot down as a rumor by Rihanna herself:
.@rihanna caught up with @etnow to talk about her visual autobiography & to shut down a rumor she registered “Private Loving” as a song and title for #R9. pic.twitter.com/iKiIUrnE9H
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 13, 2019
Rihanna has confirmed in several interviews over the past year that her new project(s) will be influenced by reggae music and her Caribbean roots. Rolling Stone reported that the singer has as many as 500 records that have been sent to her, while Variety says Rihanna will defy expectations with two proper albums: one dancehall and the other a “pop/R&B outing.” Other rumored tracks that seem to fit with the reggae and dance genre include “Waist Line Down,” “Nah Left” and “Phatty.” The Navy circulated receipts of these registered songs online earlier this year, though a quick search reveals these tracks were either scrubbed from the registration sites or faked from the beginning.
2 new Rihanna songs have been registered on BMI: “Waist Line Down” and “Nah Left”. They’re both written by David Plummer. #R9 pic.twitter.com/cJ37YMLjas
— Rihanna News (@Rihanna2) November 22, 2018
Other track titles thrown out on Stan Twitter that fail to appear on music copyright sites today include: “Like It”; “Whip It” featuring Megan Thee Stallion; “Small Dirty Secrets”; and “Mayday.”
While speculation based on music copyright sites is largely hit or miss these days, registered tracks under Rihanna‘s name are still absolutely worth discussing. In 2015, the Navy correctly predicted three songs that later appeared on ‘Anti’: “Pose,” “Never Ending” and “Love on the Brain.” The latter two were found on the BMI registry search engine nearly a full year before the album was released.
Pop Crave collected every unreleased registered track credited to Rihanna and/or Robyn Fenty to get a better picture of #R9 and #R10 (alphabetical order):
- Barbed Wire
- BoyToy
- Body Language
- Cross The Line
- Drop That
- Freeze It
- Garden
- Gonna Let This Love
- Gotta Have You Right Now
- Gwan Look Pon It
- Lack of Communication
- Locked Down
- Love Is A Bitch
- Love Looks Like Us
- Save It Up
- Ohh Lights Up
- One Time
- One Life To Live
- Only Fun
- Only One
- Plugs and Connections
- Rush
- Save It Up
- Where D The Magic Go
It’s likely that a handful of these registered tracks, like “Private Loving,” were never registered by Rihanna or will be scrapped entirely. But what’s a good album rollout without some fun Stan Twitter speculation?
One track that seems to have more credibility behind it is “Freeze It.” Twitter account @FentyStats points out that the track’s co-writer, Aleicia Nicole, was recently signed to Roc Nation and confirmed to be “working with Rihanna” on her artist page description. Nicole also worked on the song “Rush” which currently doesn’t feature a credited performer on the BMI website. Rihanna‘s artist page on the SECAM registry, however, currently features the song in her discography.
.@RocNation‘s website confirms that newly signed songwriter Aleicia Nicole (who’s credited on an upcoming Rihanna track registered on @bmi, titled “Freeze It”), is “currently working with Rihanna”. #R9 pic.twitter.com/EeUuF9pAjZ
— FentyStats.com (@FentyStats) October 24, 2019
Aleicia Nicole’s Roc Nation artist page
Another registered song, “Garden,” features songwriting credits from Jon Bellion. While Bellion has never worked with Rihanna before, his recent credits on Camila Cabello‘s “Shameless” and “Liar” along with Halsey‘s “Graveyard” definitely puts him on Rihanna‘s radar. Another important detail is Sony/ATV Songs’ listing in the “Publisher” field as Rihanna was recently reported to have signed with the company.
BMI’s description page for “Garden” with Robyn Fenty credited as songwriter/composer
We’ve only scratched the surface on all the #R9 and #R10 clues littered around the internet. Have you spotted some clues/tracks that we failed to include? Share your thoughts and conspiracies with us on Twitter at @PopCrave!
