Rumors have been swirling that Bajan megastar Rihanna is in the process of recording her ninth studio album, but what some might not know is that a 2009 Daily Star article reported that she was interested in recording a heavy metal album, according to Nuno Bettencourt, the lead guitarist in the rock band Extreme.
“When I spoke to Rihanna she was totally into transforming herself into a heavy rock chick,” the guitarist said in the story.
Back in 2009, the British-based news publication released an exclusive story stating that “closet rock chick” Rihanna was “desperate to go all heavy metal” until alarmed label execs killed the idea.
The article further stated that Bettencourt was up for the challenge, even though he turned down opportunities to work with other artists in different genres because they “didn’t really get the vibe,” he was quoted as saying.
“She was listening to Led Zeppelin and new acts like Paramore and said that was the direction she wanted to go, so I said yes,” he explained.
Fourteen years later, Bettencourt has backtracked on what the article reported, stating that it was “complete lies,” and “fabricated. It’s so incorrect. I promise you on the life of my children that those words never came out of my mouth. It’s a good story, which is why it got written I guess, but it’s absolutely not true.”
He continued: “What happened was that they got in touch with me because they said they wanted a guitar player, and wanted to rock out the show, and they had seen some of my stuff online. I said, ‘Why would you want me, there’s no guitar on a lot of the songs?’ And I was told that they just wanted me to be me, and do it on Umbrella and everything, with heavy chords and riffs. I was like, ‘Wow, that sounds f*cking exciting for a guy like me who loves all genres of music.’ That’s probably how that story started. But she didn’t want to do a heavy metal record.”
Rihanna’s last album, ANTI, was released seven years ago. Since then, fans have eagerly awaited more music from the Fenty beauty. Earlier this year, she headlined the NFL’s highly-coveted Super Bowl Halftime Show, which was her first public performance in four years.
