Rihanna will never stop trolling. It’s in her DNA. It’s her lifeblood. It’s a fundamental part of who she is. Whether you’re a card-carrying member of Rih’s Navy or a mega-successful rap artist who can’t get over your crush on her, no one is safe. Case in point: her feature on Canadian singer PartyNextDoor’s album Partymobile. On Friday at midnight, Rihanna made her long-awaited return to music on PartyNextDoor’s song “Believe It,†and the whole thing lasted … approximately 30 seconds. Yes, Rihanna’s first feature in three years, since her incredible verse on N.E.R.D’s “Lemon,†is about the length of a Super Bowl commercial, and we have to be okay with that.
The song begins with Rihanna’s unmistakable croon singing the refrain “Bad, that’s when we believe it, that’s when we believe it, believe you want to see me†twice in a row before PartyNextDoor takes over for the rest of the song. While she sings some background vocals and repeats the same refrain later in the song, the whole thing is very much over before it begins, giving her thirsty, thirsty fans just a taste of what might be coming on R9 (if it is, in fact, ever coming). Clearly, Rihanna’s a busy woman. She’s got hearts to break and, quite literally, lives to save. We don’t get more Rihanna music when we want it, we get more Rihanna music when we deserve it, and not a moment sooner.