As Rihanna returns to action off the back of her role in Jay-Z’s single “Run This Town” (also featuring one Kanye West), details have started to emerge about her forthcoming fourth album. As you may have heard, Rihanna Fenty’s career has been sidelined since her “incident” with Chris Brown on February 8th, just before the 2009 Grammy Awards. Brown assaulted the singer, resulting in a career break and an experience which will no doubt influence her new direction (and lyrics).

Per Billboard, album producers Justin Timberlake and U.K. duo Chase & Status have spoken at length about the “big beats and big bass” that we can expect from the Barbadian pop queen’s third album. They did, however, admit that the singer has taken the direction into her own hands, having the final word about “what she likes” and becoming the key creative force behind the album (as if!).

The pressure is on the singer after Good Girl Gone Bad went multi-platinum and spawned a brace of hugely successful billboard singles, including “Umbrella”, “Don’t Stop The Music” and “Disturbia”. The latter was added to her Reloaded re-release of the album, and suggested a darker, more mature direction. As Timberlake said, “the stuff we’ve come up with in the studio, it’s the next step for her. It’s a little more grown up. It’s got some edge to it.”

Vendors have the currently untitled CD penned for a November 23rd release, although sources suggest that an early 2010 release is more realistic.

Until then…