Rihanna at the Fenty Beauty And Fenty Skin Celebration, Goya Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States - 12 Feb 2022
Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. Get your hopes high and your bad self ready, because Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have been seen entering a studio three nights in a row. That’s right, a Rihanna album could be in the works.
It’s been six agonizing years since Rihanna released the no-skips album, Anti, in 2016. Since then, she’s given us plenty of serves, had a baby, and dropped countless Fenty beauty products. But. No. Music.
Until now. Maybe she heard my calls when I begged for an album release in my
Ketchup article. Maybe I’m the one who pushed her over the edge. Who’s to say? All I know is, this album is going to be iconic. Nothing Rihanna touches doesn’t turn to gold.
The blueprint Bad Gal is back and she’s been teasing new music for a while. We’ve been on the edge of our seats since she told the
Associated Press back in 2021 that “You’re not going to expect what you hear. Just put that in your mind."
Rihanna’s been starving us all with not a crumb of music, but I have a feeling her new era is approaching quickly. How sweet of her to come save the music industry in our darkest times –
I’m looking at you, trending TikTok songs that remain overplayed. We really don’t deserve her.
In the middle of May, Rihanna gave birth to her glorious Taurus baby. Now. While we still haven’t seen a picture of the little lad I’m dubbing him the Fenty Baby. I just know he must be beautiful. Rihanna and A$AP — who’s been dubbed the Male Rihanna for also being beautiful & fashionable — are now proud parents. And those close to them say they’re loving parenthood already.
A source told PEOPLE that the couple’s "doing great!" And while I’ll be sad to see Rihanna’s legendary maternity style go, I’m happy she’s happy — I guess. And someday, when we finally lay eyes on that little cutie, Fenty Baby, I know he’ll be better dressed than I can ever hope to be — whether he’s in Dior or Target brand baby clothes. All those other Nepotism Babies better watch out — there’s a new supreme in town.
"Being a new parent is of course an adjustment, but they are doing great. Their baby boy is healthy and Rihanna is just in awe of him," the insider shared with PEOPLE. "She really was so excited to be pregnant. She loved it. Meeting her son was of course extremely special too … Rihanna barely leaves his side. She is a fantastic mom. She wanted to give birth in L.A. since she has a big house with a yard. She enjoys sitting outside with her baby."
Oh, to be Rihanna’s baby, soaking up the sun with … Rihanna. Instead, I’m soaking up every piece of info on that fabulous Fenty Family I can get. It’s no surprise that their life so far seems picturesque and wholesome. Basically, Rihanna’s pregnancy was a Fenty Baby press tour, and she expressed to ELLE how excited she was the big arrival.
However, there’s some bad news … for us.
Taking care of her Fenty Baby seems to be Rihanna’s full-time job — as it should be. However, this means there will be no fresh tunes on the horizon. Will we have to wait 18 years for Fenty Baby to leave the house before the follow-up to Rihanna’s 2016 masterpiece ANTI? I hope not. But it would seem that there isn’t any new music coming soon.
An insider told PEOPLE that Rihanna "doesn't seem rushed to get back to work . . . [and that she] very much enjoys spending quiet time with her baby." I love this for her. Obviously, it’s precisely what she deserves. But, oh, how I hate this for me and my summer party playlists. "Everything Rihanna does, she does it her own way on her own timetable, and having a baby is no different."
And just like everything Rihanna does, this baby is no doubt a work of art. So congrats to the Fenty family — I’d watch that reality show ,,, manifesting… I picture them lounging by the pool of Rihanna’s Los Angeles mansion, kicking back, sunbathing, sipping luxury bottled waters from around the world, being pure beautiful.
And if the pregnancy glow was so fine on Rihanna, I can only imagine how motherhood looks on her.
When Elle asked the star whether her glow was Fenty Beauty or a pregnancy glow, she replied: “they go hand in hand. There's a pregnancy glow. There's also those days, girl … Makeup for sure helps you feel like a real person. I just focused a lot on moisturizing and on contouring. The face gets a little round and chubby. The nose starts to spread. Everything is a challenge, from getting dressed and how you're going to do your makeup. But I like challenges. I like things that force me to be creative and create in new ways. And with beauty, there's so much that you can do.”
Taking inspiration from Rihanna — as always — I love that she embraces the days she’s not feeling her best. I have more of those days than an international icon probably does, but even in my experience, Fenty Beauty is an instant mood lifter.
So happy birthday, Fenty Baby. After reading a slew of post-partum Rihanna interviews, I hope the money I spend on Fenty Beauty goes straight into your college fund or whatever the Nepotism Baby equivalent of that is. Taking notes from Rihanna’s feel-good recipe, I like to think we both have the same beauty routine right now. One can only dream.
Regardless, here are my Fenty go-to products I’ve bought because Rihanna says she’s using them:
The Fenty Beauty Total Cleans’r
An exquisite routine begins with an exquisite cleanser. This Fenty Beauty cleanser won’t strip your skin. Rather, it will keep you hydrated and set up your skincare regimen with refreshed, bouncy skin.
The Fenty Beauty Hydra Visor
This moisturizer and sunscreen is the must-have 2-in-1 product for your summer routine. It’s lightweight, with no chalky white cast, and is the perfect base for makeup or a natural glow. It also contains niacinamide to prevent breakouts and clears skin as it protects and moisturizes.
The Fenty Beauty Instant Reset Overnight Recovery Cream
Rihanna told Elle that the best advice she’s been given was “sleep while you can.” I don’t have a baby, but I’m taking that advice too. This overnight cream takes beauty sleep to a whole new level with nourishing ingredients that reset your skin while you slumber. I don’t doubt Rihanna wears this to take those well-deserved naps between diaper changes and the like.
The Fenty Beauty Flash Nap Instant Revival Firming Eye-Gel Cream
But for those nights you don’t sleep as well as you’d hoped (and it shows), this eye cream helps you fake it til you make it. After all, one of Rihanna’s most famous quotes — in response to a reporter asking what she does when she’s not her most confident — is my mantra most days. Rihanna said: “Pretend … It’s either that or cry myself to sleep. Who wants to do that? You wake up with puffy eyes the next day.” Got puffy eyes anyway. This is the antidote.
The Fenty Beauty Counter Skin Stick
One of the original Fenty Beauty products, this beloved contour stick is the lazy girl’s best friend. For easy, effective contouring this is a staple for any makeup bag will quickly make you look like yourself again. And if it can make Rihanna look that good in her third trimester, it’s good enough for me.
The Fenty Beauty Liquid Killawatt Fluid Freestyle Highlighter
Every day is a disco, a party, an event — or whatever — with this makeup essential. This highlighter brings the drama. It hypes me up. It makes me feel good by helping me (literally) highlight my favorite features with an ethereal glow.
Rihanna's Very NYC Baby Announcement: A Pap Walk in a Puffer and Jeans
TMZ
Turns out, against all odds, Rihanna is pregnant.
Despite her earlier statements denying the rumors (see: below) Rihanna is in fact expecting with boo A$AP Rocky.
In our defense, how could we have known? Rihanna’s signature streetwear style allows for oversized silhouettes which hid her burgeoning baby bump, plus the winter coat ensemble she’s been rocking in New York — where she and Rocky have been spotted recently — made it impossible for us to gauge. Until now.
All smiles, Rihanna went for a morning stroll in a pink puffer, belly bared — one of the most stylish but effortless baby announcements we’ve seen in a while. No red carpet fuss, no Instagram photoshoot, just vibes.
If Rihanna is happy, we’re happy. But someone please check on Drake.
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Original Article: December 7 2021
It’s official: we are never getting that album.
New photos have made fans speculate that Rihanna — yes, Rihanna — might be pregnant with A$AP Rocky’s child.
Once the rumor started circulating, there was no stopping it. Twitter took it and ran, and soon the alleged pregnancy was making the rounds around every social media platform like it was the truth.
Let’s be clear: I will not believe Rihanna is pregnant until Rihanna tells us herself that she is pregnant. However, 2021 has been the year for unpredictable relationships and pregnancies — see: Olivia Munn and John Mulaney. So if the rumor ends up being true, I’ll be disappointed but not shocked.
This vague dread at the prospect of a mini-Rihanna is honestly surprising. Why wouldn’t we all be thrilled by the notion of a fashion icon in-the-making with beautiful parents to boot? Honestly, it’s because we’re all a little selfish. And selfishly … we’d prefer a new album!
Rihanna hasn’t released a new album since the boundary breaking, instantly iconic ANTI in 2016. Sure, we’ve heard her voice in a few features since. But every year we get tricked into believing this oft-rumored album is coming “soon.“
Yet, every year Rihanna seems to do any and everything else but release it. From starting an industry-altering beauty line to producing cutting edge, inclusive fashion shows for her brand Savage X Fenty. Then there’s The Rihanna Book, a stunning visual autobiography in photos that tracks her childhood in Barbados through her iconic world tours. Oh, and yes . . . becoming a billionaire, let’s not forget that. Rihanna seems to be busy doing everything but releasing her album.
However, her busy schedule and monumental achievements are what earned her the highest honor in her home country of Barbados.
Where Did The Rumors Come From?
On Tuesday November 30, Rihanna was named a National Hero in Barbados, earning the title: the Right Excellent Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
Barbados — which recently removed Queen Elizabeth of England as their head of state and became a republic — has long celebrated the superstar. Her birthday — February 22 — is nationally recognized as Rihanna Day, and the street where she grew up is now named Rihanna Drive.
“Barbadians are a proud people,” Rihanna said in her acceptance speech. “We are probably the proudest people I know. No matter where I go, in the world I take that pride with me.”
But Rihanna can’t brush an eyelash off her cheek without the internet making a huge deal of it. And as they should! However, when photos from the ceremony started circulating, the award wasn’t what fans were focusing on.
As the Rihanna rumors spread like wildfire, most of us are lamenting any chance we might get a Rihanna album any time soon.
Pregnancy Doesn’t Have to Be Daunting
Though Rihanna seemed to shut down the rumors, fans aren't holding their breath for an album. If Rihanna has a bun in the oven before an album, we’ll get over ourselves and wait with bated breath for her new maternity business venture.
Until then, there are plenty of brands revolutionizing the way we think about maternity products. It’s not all slippers and shapeless, oversized clothes.
Beli is a brand that helps couples achieve healthy pregnancies using natural products to boost nutrition. Backed by science, Beli is the first prenatal vitamin system designed to help women, men, and baby reach their full potential from day one.
Beli is the right choice to provide your body what it needs every step of the way. With preconception vitamins for higher chances of fertility, to daily nutritional supplements for mama and baby while in utero, Beli has what you don't even know you need.
While speculation and rumors about celebrity pregnancies can be fun — more fun if it’s not Rihanna, but still — the realities of being pregnant are often less glamorous. Beli’s nurturing supplements help boost health, energy, and comfort throughout each trimester for an easier, less draining pregnancy. Not only that, Beli will be there for you during post pregnancy recovery.
The Sweatpants. The Converse. I guess this is American fashion
Timothee Chalamet at the Met Gala
Let's just say it: the Met Gala was … embarrassing.
We waited two years, we speculated for months, and then the night finally came and it was disappointing at best, but more aptly described as a horror show of mediocrity and misses. And then we woke up the day after and had to remember that no, it wasn't a dream.
The theme was "A Lexicon in American Fashion" and if you're wondering what that meant, so was everyone else. The current trends of maximalism were at odds with the classic silhouettes which inspired the theme. The unclear references and lackluster looks had little to say about American Fashion.
Met galas theme being Murica or whatever and everyone understood the assignment because it is pure chaos, no consis… https://t.co/LSWfb7Sm1L
— One Hand on Frontal (@One Hand on Frontal)
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In fact, most of the looks just made us cringe.
Controversial guests like Addison Rae and Madison Beer proved the skeptics correct by pulling up looking like they were going to the prom in ill fitting dresses and mall-like makeup.
And some of the more statement outfits fell so flat they were hard to look at. I mean … I can barely believe Ciara wore a neon green sequined cutout dress, let alone that it was emblazoned with a jersey number and that she accessorized with a football — Kaepernick is somewhere taking a knee.
After showing up at the final hour, Rihanna finally made it to the red carpet draped in a blanket-like cape with a fitted headdress and cap. Honestly, the look was glamorous and dramatic. However, all the pictures with her goofy boyfriend kind of ruined it.
Even the highly anticipated guests of the night were controversial. The elephant in the room: Timothee Chalamet wore converse. And sweatpants? The outfit was confusing and the juxtaposition was debatably successful — but his charm carried it.
Yet, between groans of disappointment, there were bright spots, glimmers of hope. Thank God for the few, brave soldiers who dared to dress well for the Met Gala. Here are some of our favorites.
The undisputed winner of the night, Iman wore one of the only looks of the night that screamed: I AM AT THE MET GALA. Not a detail was spared. She donned a gold brocade jumpsuit with flared pants, which served as the base for the tiered feather skirt with a matching circular feathered headdress. From the dramatic shapes, the golden details inspired by America's Golden Age, and the haloed headdress, Iman was one of the only guests who understood the assignment.
25-year-old designer Harris Reed is famous for "fighting for the beauty of fluidity," playing with beauty and gender and playfulness — all of which came through in this incredible look.
Take notes: sheer dresses are IN. The theme of the season so far has been skin, but of all the sheer looks so far, Zoe Kravitz in YSL. The metal dress, the metal underwear, goodnight.
Inspired by Josephine Baker, Yara Shadi's dress was a masterclass in intricacies. The details of the elegant lace and the curled hair to resemble Baker were dramatized by the long veil that trailed behind her on the carpet. The mix of subtlety and drama was a feat by designer Jason Bolden in one of the most stunning looks of the night.
Another masterpiece of elegance was Anok Yai. The model's whole look is goosebump-inducing, from the jewel encrusted gown, the feather boa, and the slicked back pixie cut. A vision.
This was the year that specific designers showcased their individual talent. From the few Great looks emerged a pattern: the same newer, younger designers were the ones bringing all the creativity. One such designer was BODE. The menswear brand went all out, and one standout look was for Lorde. The religion-inspired look was an elegant silhouette adorned with American ephemera for a whimsical but beautiful look.
GQ's Will Welch also wore custom BODE in one of the only standout preppy looks from the night. Inspired by American icons like Ralph Lauren, as well as folksy patchwork, this suit was one of the most interesting looks of the night.
True to his Texas roots, Leon Bridges also brought it in BODE, giving the best Western inspired look of the night. While other takes on the West felt too overdone — we're looking at you J-Lo — Bridges wore a finger denim jacket and studded pants, accessorized with cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and cartier jewelry — only in America.
Another designer that pulled out all the stops was Thom Browne. Every single look was an inventive take on suiting, tailoring, and the classic black and white. One such standout was Pete Davidson, who wore a classic Thom Browne look: a skirt. The designer is famous for his male skirts and a bleach blonde Davidson, knee tattoos and all, pulled off the immaculately shaped and fitted suit jacket and skirt combo with confidence and ease.
Pose star MJ Rodriguez was one of the night's standouts in another master class in shape by Thom Browne. Instead of going for the classic clean lines, Browne proved his versatility by dressing Rodriguez in a "balloon-sleeve tuxedo shirt and button-back draped skirt."
But that description does not do justice to the elegance of the spiral skirt or the drama of the sleeves, and certainly not to the energy that MJ carried onto the carpet — with an air of confidence and performance that was sorely lacking.
Eryka Badu can do no wrong. And neither can Thom Browne. Together, this Met Gala look was both sophisticated and sleep-inspired. Badu's top hat and suspenders, contrasted with the blanket-like robe in a look Browne described as a "black silk duchess satin down stole, sportcoat and suspender skirt in black cavalry twill." An instant classic.
We're all here for the resurgence of Megan Fox — especially when MGK is not implicated. After a stunning slate of looks at NYFW and the VMAs, Fox did not disappoint. The actress wore a dramatic red Peter Dundas gown, but what really made her look was her dramatic hair and makeup.
In Stella McCartney, the trio were the best iteration of the red, white, and blue. Dennis opened the ceremony with a gymnastics show in a blue jumpsuit, celebrating both physicality and fashion. Emhoff wore an all red tracksuit with a sequined bodice, blending the elegant with the casual. Lastly, Garner wore a sheer bedazzled dress — which was a recurring theme of the night.
Michaela Coel in deep violet sequins? No notes. Stunning. No talk about Kim's Balenciaga; only this look will be discussed here. The explosion of color offset the simplicity of the shape in the most dramatic way for a bold, memorable look.
Troye Sivan, former YouTuber and now pop star, was in one of the simplest but best looks of the night. The deceptively simple gown played with shape in the best way with its elegant circles and rounded cutouts. We love him, we love it.
The world's wealthiest female musician hasn't been making a lot of music lately.
It's officially been four years since our majesty Robyn Rihanna Fenty released her eighth and most recent album, ANTI. That's not to say she hasn't been busy—she is running her own lines of makeup and lingerie, after all.
But no matter how successful, Rihanna's recent business and acting endeavors could never satisfy our need for her music. A lot has happened since January 2016, and we're long overdue for another record to soundtrack all our bad b*tch and sad b*tch moments.
To evidence just how much time has passed, here are 27 things that have happened since Rihanna released ANTI.
Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar.
Prince and David Bowie died just months apart from each other.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt divorced.
One Direction broke up, and each member released a solo album.
Kim Kardashian was robbed in Paris.
Beyoncé debuted her visual album Lemonade on HBO.
Ryan Lochte lied about being robbed in Rio.
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Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
Ariana Grande organized her One Love Manchester benefit concert in less than two weeks.
The #MeToo hashtag took flight.
Beyoncé pulled out of her Coachella headline slot because she was pregnant with twins. She made up for it the next year with arguably the best, most detailed festival performance of all time.
Beyonce and JAY-Z made an album together and rented out the f--king Louvre.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got engaged, married, had a baby, and essentially resigned from the Royal Family.
The Snapchat hotdog took over the world.
Peppa Pig also took over the world.
Kendall Jenner starred in both a really tone-deaf Pepsi commercial and a really weird Lil Dicky music video.
Kris Jenner welcomed five new grandchildren who will never have to work a day in their lives. One of whom is Rob Kardashian's daughter with Blac Chyna, who also has a child with Tyga, the ex of Rob's half-sister Kylie Jenner.
Taylor Swift was reportedly transported in a massive suitcase.
The first Women's March took place.
Bobby Berk did the absolute most for the least amount of recognition when the Queer Eye reboot hit Netflix.
Pete Davidson started dating Ariana Grande, got engaged to Ariana Grande, broke up with Ariana Grande, dated Kate Beckinsdale, dated Kaia Gerber...am I missing anyone?
Ariana Grande released the two best albums of her career just months apart.
Cardi B threw a shoe at Nicki Minaj.
The Jonas Brothers reunited and two of them got married.
In just 10 days, a stock photo of an egg dethroned Kylie Jenner for the most-liked photo on Instagram.
The story of psychedelics is intertwined with the story of music, and tracing their relationship can feel like going in circles.
For thousands of years, artists have been using naturally-grown herbs to open their minds and enhance their creative processes. Since LSD was synthesized by Albert Hoffman in 1938, psychedelics have experienced a reemergence, blooming into a revolution in the 1960s, launching dozens of genres and sounds that focused on acid, shrooms, and all of the portals they opened. Around the 1960s, scientists also began studying the relationship between psychedelics and music, and even back then, researchers found that, when combined, music and psychedelics could have therapeutic effects on patients.
More modern studies have discovered that LSD, specifically, links a portion of the brain called the parahippocampal—which specializes in personal memory—to the visual cortex, which means that memories take on more autobiographical and visual dimensions. Other studies have found that LSD can make the timbres and sounds of music feel more meaningful and emotionally powerful. Today, psychedelic music still thrives, and you can hear flickers of those early trip-inspired experiences all across today's modern musical landscape.
"There is a message intrinsically carried in music, and under the effects of psychedelics, people seem to become more responsive to this," said the psychedelic researcher Mendel Kaelen. "Emotion can be processed more deeply. It's a beautiful narrative. It's like a snake biting itself in the tail."
All that said, psychedelics can be as dangerous as the archetypal live-fast-die-young rock and roller's average lifestyle. They can destabilize already fragile minds and can encourage further drug abuse and reckless behavior. Often, psychedelic revolutions have coincided with colonialist fetishizations, apocalyptic visions, and appropriations of Eastern culture.
However, sometimes psychedelics and musical talent can come together in a synergy so perfect that it can literally create transcendent and healing experiences. Hallucinogens affected each of these following musicians in a unique way, but their experiences with hallucinogens produced some of the greatest music of all time.
Harry Styles — She
In his revelatory Rolling Stone profile, Harry Styles spoke out about how magic mushrooms inspired his most recent album, Fine Line. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the 25-year-old apparently spent a lot of time at Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles tripping and listening to the old psychedelic greats.
"Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms here," he said in the interview during a tour of the studio. "We'd do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney's Ram in the sunshine."
Things even got a little violent, as they often can when dealing with hallucinogens. "This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place," he reminisced affectionately.
Kacey Musgraves' dreamy song "Slow Burn" was apparently inspired by an acid trip. Listening to the lyrics, you can hear the influence of psychedelics twining with country and singer-songwriter tropes. "I was sitting on the porch, you know, having a good, easy, zen time," she said of the songwriting experience, which she said happened out on her porch one evening. "I wrote it down on my phone, and then wrote the songs the next day with a sober mind."
LSD, she said, "opens your mind in a lot of ways. It doesn't have to be scary. People in the professional worlds are using it, and it's starting to become an option for therapy. Isn't that crazy?" Her affection for the drug also appears in her song "Oh What A World," which contains the lyric, "Plants that grow and open your mind."
A$AP Rocky — L$D
While A$AP Rocky's affection for LSD isn't a surprise given his propensity for writing about the drug, apparently the rapper has an intellectual approach to his psychedelic experimentation.
"We was all in London at my spot, Skeppy came through," he told Hot New Hip Hop about his experience writing LSD. "I have this psychedelic professor, he studies in LSD. I had him come through and kinda record and monitor us to actually test the product while being tested on. We did the rhymes all tripping balls."
Apparently his first acid trip happened in 2012. "Okay, without getting anyone in trouble, I was with my homeboy and some trippy celebrity chicks and…" he said in an interview with Time Out. When asked how long it lasted, he said, "Too long, man. Twenty-three hours. I was trippin' till the next day. When I woke up, I was like, Damn! I did that shit! That shit was dope. It was so amazing. It was a-ma-zing. Nothing was like that first time."
Acid changed his entire approach to music and success. "I never really gave a f*ck, man, but this time, I really don't give a f*ck," he said. "I don't care about making no f*cking hits." Instead, he focuses on creating. "It's so hard to be progressive when you're trippin' b*lls," he said. "You make some far-out shit!"
The Beatles' later music is essentially synonymous with LSD, and the band members often spoke out about their unique experiences with the drug. According to Rolling Stone, the first time that Lennon and Harrison took it was actually a complete accident. A friend put LSD in their coffee without their knowledge, and initially Lennon was furious. But after the horror and panic faded, things changed. "I had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God, and I could see him in every blade of grass. It was like gaining hundreds of years of experience in 12 hours," said Harrison.
Paul McCartney had similar revelations. LSD "opened my eyes to the fact that there is a God," he said in 1967. "It is obvious that God isn't in a pill, but it explained the mystery of life. It was truly a religious experience." Of LSD's effect, he also said, "It started to find its way into everything we did, really. It colored our perceptions. I think we started to realize there wasn't as many frontiers as we'd thought there were. And we realized we could break barriers."
Using the drug not only helped the band create some of the most legendary music of all time—it also brought them closer together. "After taking acid together, John and I had a very interesting relationship," said George Harrison. "That I was younger or I was smaller was no longer any kind of embarrassment with John. Paul still says, 'I suppose we looked down on George because he was younger.' That is an illusion people are under. It's nothing to do with how many years old you are, or how big your body is. It's down to what your greater consciousness is and if you can live in harmony with what's going on in creation. John and I spent a lot of time together from then on and I felt closer to him than all the others, right through until his death."
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Remastered 2009)
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Ray Charles — My World
The soul music pioneer allegedly once described acid as his "eyes." Charles was blind, but LSD is said to have allowed him some version of sight. Though he struggled with addiction, Charles eventually got clean, though his music always bore some markers of his experiences with the subconscious mind.
Actually, blind people on LSD and hallucinogens can experience hallucinations of different kinds, though it's somewhat rare. According to a study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, this happens because during a trip, "the plasticity of the nervous system allows the recognition and translation of auditory or tactile patterns into visual experiences."
Clapton struggled with drug abuse throughout his life, and LSD certainly had an influence on him. While he was a part of Cream, he frequently played shows while tripping, and according to outontrip.com, he became "convinced that he could turn the audience into angels or devils according to the notes he played."
Before he was creating the ultimate dad rap, Chance the Rapper was an acidhead.
"None of the songs are really declarative statements; a lot of them are just things that make you wonder...a lot like LSD," said Chance the Rapper of his hallucinogen-inspired album, the aptly named Acid Rap. "[There] was a lot of acid involved in Acid Rap," he told MTV in 2013. "I mean, it wasn't too much — I'd say it was about 30 to 40 percent acid ... more so 30 percent acid."
But the album wasn't merely about acid; like much of the best psychedelic music, it was more about the imagery and symbolism associated with the drug than the actual drug itself. "It wasn't the biggest component at all. It was something that I was really interested in for a long time during the making of the tape, but it's not necessarily a huge faction at all. It was more so just a booster, a bit of fuel. It's an allegory to acid, more so than just a tape about acid," he said.
Jazz great John Coltrane was a regular LSD user who used the drug to create music and to have spiritual experiences. Though he struggled with addiction throughout his life, LSD was one drug that had a major artistic influence on him. While it's not known for sure if the album Om—which includes chanted verses of the Bhagavad Gita—was recorded while Coltrane was on LSD, many rumors theorize that it was.
"Coltrane's LSD experiences confirmed spiritual insights he had already discovered rather than radically changing his perspective," wrote Eric Nisenson in Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest. "After one early acid trip he said, 'I perceived the interrelationship of all life forms,' an idea he had found repeated in many of the books on Eastern theology that he had been reading for years. For Coltrane, who for years had been trying to relate mystical systems such as numerology and astrology, theories of modern physics and mathematics, the teachings of the great spiritual leaders, and advanced musical theory, and trying somehow to pull these threads into something he could play on his horn. The LSD experience gave him visceral evidence that his quest was on the right track."
Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis wrote the song "Acid Tongue" about her first and only experience on LSD, which happened when she was fourteen. She told Rolling Stone, "It culminated in a scene not unlike something from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—the scene where Hunter S. Thompson has to lock the lawyer in the bathroom. I sort of assumed the Hunter S. Thompson character and my friend – she had taken far too much – decided to pull a butcher knife out of the kitchen drawer and chase me around the house… At the end of that experience, my mom was out of town on a trip of her own and she returned to find me about 5 lbs lighter and I had—I was so desperate to get back to normal I decided to drink an entire gallon of orange juice. I saw that it was in the fridge and decided that this would sort of flush the LSD out of my system, but I didn't realize that it did exactly the opposite."
The Beach Boys' mastermind Brian Wilson was famously inspired by psychedelics, which both expanded and endangered his fragile and brilliant mind. After his first acid trip in 1965, an experience that he said "expanded his mind," Wilson wrote "California Gurls." After the trip, however, Wilson began suffering from auditory hallucinations and symptoms of schizophrenia, and though he discontinued use of the drug, he continued to hear voices; doctors eventually diagnosed him with the disease. Wilson later lamented his tragic experiences with LSD, stating that he wished he'd never done the drug.
Though it led Wilson on a downward spiral, LSD inspired some of his band's greatest work—namely the iconic Pet Sounds, which launched half a century of "acid-pop copycats."
The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is widely believed to be the product of lead singer Wayne Coyne's LSD experimentation. This theory is corroborated by the fact that the album's cover features the number 25 (and LSD is also known as LSD-25). They also frequently reference LSD in their music, which includes an album called Finally, the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
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Jimi Hendrix — Voodoo Child
While there is still some general contention on whether Jimi Hendrix hallucinated frequently, nobody really doubts that he did. According to rumors, the legendary musician even used to soak his bandanas in acid before going onstage so the drug would seep through his pores.
According to one source, Hendrix did more than just play music while tripping. He was also an expert at (of all things) the game of Risk.
"Jimi would play Risk on acid, and I never — and me personally — ever beat him at all," said Graham Nash in an interview. "He was unbelievable at it. He was a military man, you know, he's a paratrooper, and I don't know whether you know that about Jimi, but no one ever beat him at Risk."
Jim Morrison was a documented LSD user, and it eventually led him out of his mind. "The psychedelic Jim I knew just a year earlier, the one who was constantly coming up with colorful answers to universal questions, was being slowly tortured by something we didn't understand. But you don't question the universe before breakfast for years and not pay a price," said John Desmore in Riders on the Storm: My Life With the Doors.
Morrison used many different drugs during his lifetime, but apparently LSD had a special place and he avoided using it while working. "LSD was a sacred sacrament that was to be taken on the beach at Venice, under the warmth of the sun, with our father the sun and our mother the ocean close by, and you realised how divine you were," said Ray Manzarek. "It wasn't a drug for entertainment. You could smoke a joint and play your music, as most musicians did at the time. But as far as taking LSD, that had to be done in a natural setting."
Morrison himself—a visionary who was also a drug-addled narcissist—was kind of the prototypical 1960s LSD-addled rock star. Alive with visions about poetry and sex but lost in his own self-destruction, he perhaps touched on something of the sublime with his art, but in the end he went down a very human path towards misery and decay.
Like many of these artists' stories, Morrison's life reveals that perhaps instead of using hallucinogens and psychedelics as shortcuts to a spiritual experience, one should exercise extreme caution when exploring the outer reaches of the psyche. When it comes to actually engaging with potent hallucinogens, that might be best left to the shamans, or forgotten with the excesses of the 1960s.
On the other hand, we might do well to learn from the lessons that people have gleaned from hallucinogens over the years—lessons that reveal just how interconnected everything is, that show us that music and memory and nature may just all stem from the same place.
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