When the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve 2014, there was one thought ringing out loud and clear in the minds of thousands: “damn it, Rihanna, we thought you were supposed to drop your new album by now.” It’s been two dry years since pop’s reigning queen released a record, and with the thirst for the next “Diamonds” or “Stay” at its peak, the rumour that #R8 (as Rihanna has been referring to it on social media) was going to drop in winter 2014 was rife. In fact, a whole bunch of rumours were rife. We’ve cut through the noise to determine what we can safely guess about the imminent record, from DJ Mustard’s contributions to the fact that she’s registed a new song called “Burritos.” 2015 is yours, RiRi. Get it.

THIS BANGER MIGHT BE ON IT

This year got off to a euphoric start when a demo called “World Peace” leaked online, featuring Rihanna getting all political (“in a perfect world, we would make love over war”) over a “We Found Love”/”Only Girl”-ish dubstep stormer. The internet jumped to the conclusion, as the internet likes to do, that this is a track set to feature on the upcoming record. Given no one from Rihanna’s camp has scrambled to make it disappear, it’s kind of unlikely to make the final tracklist. But damn, the world really needs to feel love, and Rihanna’s “doo doo doo”s again. If this is an indication of where she’s heading stylistically, it’s a good one. 

GREAT HUMANS TY DOLLA $IGN AND SIA HAVE BEEN WRITING SONGS FOR IT

A while back, Ty Dolla $ign revealed that he’d been doing some writing in the studio with the Bad Gal. “We did a couple of joints, one joint she really liked,” he said, coyly – given this is the guy who wrote monster hit “Loyal” and has a hand in the Kanye/McCartney collaboration, there’s a solid chance he’s contributed a diamond or two to #R8. And speaking of diamonds, Sia is apparently back on board too after she masterminded one of Rih’s biggest hits. She told VH1 last year that she’d given Rihanna a track, and that RiRi’s camp had “flipped out over it.” The list of names attached to the project doesn’t end there. Ne-Yo has been working with Rihanna once again, as has songwriter Alicia Renee (who Instagrammed herself crying in the studio after hearing Rihanna sing the song she’d written). Kiesza also told Digital Spy last summer that she’d had a couple of her songs recorded by Rihanna, but didn’t know whether they’d make the final cut.

SAM SMITH KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT IT BUT WON’T TELL US WHAT IT IS

“I know some stuff about (Rihanna’s) record that no one knows,” Sam Smith trolled – sorry, told – Entertainment Weekly recently. Our guess is that that means Smith is going to pop up on the record, presumably lending his lungs to a Stay-esque tear-jerker.

RIRI’S BEEN SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING TO IGNITE HER WHEN SHE’S ALONE

Or at least, she has been according to a track name revealed by DJ Skee on Dash Radio at the end of last year: “I’ve Been Searching For Something To Ignite Me When I’m Alone.” Skee asserted that this was going to be the title of Rih’s first #R8 single, but she later dragged him on Twitter, suggesting that the information is either wrong or not his to announce. Either way, she has in fact registered a new track with BMI called “Ignite Me.” Other potential new titles floating around on the registry include: “Kiss It Better,” “Burritos,” “Ehh,” “Intoxicated” and “Transducer.”

DJ MUSTARD IS ON THE BEAT

In fact, Darkchild and David Guetta are also apparently on the beat. But this time, “We Found Love” producer Calvin Harris is definitely not on the beat. Back in September, Mustard confirmed that he was still working on the album, saying: “we’re still in the early stages, trying to come together with a massive record.”

IT’S RUMOURED TO FEATURE A KERI HILSON AND NICKI MINAJ COLLAB

The hashtag #Barz has been haunting sleepless Navy members since May of last year, when Rihanna tweeted a series of lyrics under it, at the same time as Keri Hilson and Nicki Minaj also used the hashtag. Imagine.

IT COULD BE OUT BY MARCH (WE HOPE)

Since the album didn’t materialise in #Q4 2014 like everyone hoped it would after Rihanna told ET Online it was arriving “very soon” in November, theories as to its release date are wide open. Could it drop on February 20th, her birthday? Will she aim to compete with Madonna's Rebel Heart in March (she did once say she wanted to be the Black Madonna, after all – check this cover of “Vogue”)? Various sites have been speculating that it will be a “late winter release,” suggesting it will appear in the next couple of months, but there’s no confirmation from Camp Fenty.

AIN’T NONE OF THIS SHIT PROMISED

As Rihanna herself reminded us recently, don’t listen to the fuckery from unauthorised sources: “ANY news about #R8 will be delivered directly from me!” Her Instagram showed that she was still hard at work over the festive period, proving the album wasn’t (and possibly still isn’t) done yet. Though given she was sharing snippets as *fire emoji* as the one below – where she snarls, “ain’t none of this shit promised...ain’t none of this shit certain” – there’s one thing we can count on as stone-cold certain: it’s going to be worth the wait.