When she snarled, "That Rihanna reign just won't let up," on her 2009 single "Hard," it seemed like a typical piece of pretty hollow pop star bravado. But seven years later, that Rihanna reign still hasn't let up and actually, it feels stronger than ever. This year she's dropped the coolest album of her career, Anti, while setting off on a massive world tour that included last Friday's show at London's iconic Wembley Stadium. She's also found time to record "Sledgehammer," a brand new track for the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack, and reunited with Calvin Harris for the dance smash "This Is What You Came For."

Though she remains at the forefront of youth culture, putting her name to a signature range of Puma trainers as well as collaborating with high-end brands like Dior and Manolo Blahnik, it's strange in a way to think that Rihanna is still only 28. She already has more U.S. number one hits that any artist bar The Beatles and Mariah Carey. And she's racked up those smashes while cultivating a persona, relatable but super-glamorous, that no other household name really has. On the one hand, you can imagine spending an afternoon down the pub with RiRi, shooting pool and doing shots, but at the same time, you'd lose your shit if you spotted her buying hummus at Tesco Metro.

Over the last couple of years, it's also felt as though Rihanna has grasped control of her career to a greater extent than ever before. Between 2005 and 2012, she released seven albums in eight years, taking on a workload more onerous than perhaps any other top-tier pop star. But then, well, she really made us wait for Anti, which finally dropped this January, three months after she'd announced the world tour of the same name. "Announcing the tour before the album was a bold move," says BBC Radio 1's Clara Amfo, who's followed Rihanna's career closely from the start. "But I think she's at that point now where her singles don't have to chart super-well for her to stay relevant. Because she's just everywhere. And watching her on stage, you can just tell she feels really free now."

Singer-songwriter Clare Maguire, who calls Rihanna her "favourite pop star," says the way she made us wait is proof of the enviable position she's grafted hard to occupy. "She's got her audience now, so she doesn't have to play by anybody else's rules. Everyone was thinking, 'Where's the album? When's the music coming?', and she was just tweeting about her new line of socks. That's so Rihanna: she'll get the music out when she wants to get it out. And then when she did, it was amazing."