Rihanna’s new single sparks backlash, labeled “unlistenable” and “god awful”.

Rihanna fans are slamming the singer over her new song “Friend of Mine,” calling it ‘horrible,’ ‘god awful,’ and ‘garbage.’ Written for the new Smurfs movie, where Rihanna voices Smurfette, it marks her first release in three years. Her last single, “Lift Me Up” for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, came out in 2022, and she hasn’t released an album since 2016’s Anti.

After all the hype, fans were left bitterly disappointed, criticizing every aspect of “Friend of Mine,” from the vocals to the melody. The repetitive lyrics, mostly just the title, drew the most backlash.

One fan wrote, “Rihanna needed 7 writers for this… 20 years in the Navy, and this is the disrespect I’m given…”

Another raged, “This ‘comeback’ song is unlistenable! Rihanna should stay away from music if this is all she has to offer—mediocrity at its finest.”

“Friend of Mine is just a long intro, annoying instrumental, and the same line on repeat for three minutes,” scoffed another fan. “Girl, bye @rihanna.”

“Just listened to ‘Friend of Mine’ and now I see why Rihanna hasn’t released an album in all these years,” joked another on X (formerly Twitter).

One listener slammed the song as ‘AI generated,’ while others groaned online: “Just keep the album, girl” and “Girl, this is horrible.”

“Oh Rihanna…” sighed another social media user. “You either sold your voice to an AI company, or they didn’t pay you enough for this movie, so you just said ‘Friend of Mine’ into a mic once, and they copied and pasted it over a beat with an electronic filter. This Smurfs ‘song’ is pure garbage.”

“The Navy is ‘lost for words’—so was Rihanna and the SIX others who wrote ‘Friend of Mine,'” one fan joked, while another ranted, calling it her “worst song ever, omfg.”

“Girl, imagine claiming credit for your writing with just three words: ‘FRIEND OF MINE,'” joked one fan, while another wrote in disbelief, “Rihanna is not serious with ‘Friend of Mine.'”

Music producer Jon Bellion, one of the many writers behind the track, explained that the song was created over three days at his Hamptons vacation home last summer.

“It was a bunch of people having a blast, doing a music camp together, jamming on some DJ stuff, playing chords, and just having fun,” he told Billboard.