New ‘Smurfs’ movie trailer promises new Rihanna music

A trailer for the new Smurfs movie has dropped, and it seems to promise new music from Rihanna. Check it out below.

• READ MORE: Rihanna: every album ranked and rated

Shared today (February 5), the new teaser comes following the news in 2023 that the pop star would be taking on the role of Smurfette in the upcoming blockbuster.

Before the trailer begins, Rihanna is seen speaking to the camera, introducing herself and her role in the film and telling viewers that she “can’t wait” for them to watch it in cinemas over the summer.

From there, it kicks off with a mash-up of the original Smurfs theme song and the early Rihanna hit song ‘Don’t Stop The Music’, before transitioning into a Rihanna cover of the 1987 pop classic ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ by Belinda Carlisle. The latter also seems to feature an appearance from DJ Khaled.

“In Smurf village, every day is a party,” Ri says in the voiceover. “Every Smurf has a job — like Grouchy, Influencer, and me, the coolest Smurf in the whole village.”

According to the trailer, the plot seems to be centred around a number of Smurfs embarking on a long journey into different dimensions to find the missing Papa Smurf – voiced by John Goodman. Other actors contributing their voices to the film include Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, Nick Kroll, James Corden and Amy Sedaris.

It is set to arrive in cinemas on July 18. Check out the trailer below.

As well as taking on one of the leading roles in the film and providing music for the trailer, it looks like Rihanna will also be using the blockbuster to drop some long-awaited new material.

According to a report from Variety, Rihanna is one of the producers of the movie and has also written multiple original songs for it.

More details about the new tracks are expected to be shared closer to the film’s release date.

The trailer and hopes for new music comes just days after the singer took to social media to celebrate nine years since the release of her last studio album, ‘Anti’. She has yet to release another album since then, but has gone on to drop two standalone songs. The most recent of which was the 2022 song ‘Lift Me Up’ – the lead track to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack and a tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman.

Fans have been anticipating a new LP – currently dubbed ‘R9’ by fans – since 2018, when the singer started dropping hints. These included a lighthearted post of a dog dancing alongside the caption:“Me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it.”

While hopes were high in 2019, the following year she dismissed them by telling fans to stop asking her to release new material during the pandemic. By 2023, Entertainment Tonight claimed that Rihanna was planning her musical return by signing a deal with Live Nation and looking to go on a world tour from 2024-2025. This has yet to materialise.

By December 2023, Rihanna fanned the flames from ET and told a reporter on a red carpet that there may be new music and a world tour on the horizon. Once again, this lost momentum just two months later when her partner A$AP Rocky said that the singer was still “working on” the long-awaited record.

Although Ri has kept her cards close to her chest about new music, she did recently address her future in the music industry at a Fenty launch party, explaining that the long holdup for new material comes because “God had other plans for me.”

The forthcoming role in the Smurfs film will be far from her first acting role, as she has already starred in projects including Battleship, Home and Ocean’s 8.

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