Lead single “We Found Love” is undeniably the biggest hit to stem from the Talk That Talk era, spending 10 consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100. Her longing continues in “Where Have You Been,” which flaunts Rihanna’s versatility, flipping Geoff Mack’s 1959 country song “I’ve Been Everywhere” into an infectious EDM banger. It was especially refreshing to see Rihanna emerge from one of the darkest periods of her life as exuberant as ever.
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Though it’s been close to a decade since Rihanna’s last studio album, 2016’s ANTI, she reminded the world of her reign with her 2023 Super Bowl halftime show — which also marked her first time taking the stage in five years. She has sold over 60 million albums worldwide, landed 14 Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers, and won nine GRAMMY Awards. As Rihanna’s debut album, ‘Music of the Sun,’ turns 20, take a deep dive into the superstar’s catalog and her evolution from teen idol to beloved icon. Though a new album still eludes the Rihanna Navy, their fearless leader hasn’t been completely musically absent in the years since ANTI‘s release.
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- “I will never be your ordinary thing. When you come to see me, it doesn’t matter the time or the space, it’s always going to be good.”
- The record also featured the popular power ballad “Unfaithful,” as well as singles “We Ride” and “Break It Off.”
- Rihanna is a Grammy-winning singer known for such No. 1 pop hits as “Umbrella,” “SOS,” “Diamonds,” and “Work.”
- Jan. 26, Rocky scored his first Billboard 200 No. 1 album in more than a decade with Don’t Be Dumb, which Rihanna celebrated via X, writing, “Just me here to let yall know my baby daddy got the NUMBER 1 ALBUM!!!
- But the song itself did pip fellow superstars Prince, Billy Joel and Lionel Richie to the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance crown.
- Often mentioned as a record that inspired a generation of artists from Troye Sivan to Conan Gray, Swift’s confessional, soul-bearing authenticity set a new standard for straightforward pop music.
Rolling Stone included her single “Umbrella” in its list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and her album Anti amongst the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. She is the UK’s third best-selling female artist of the 21st century, having sold seven million albums. In August 2018, Billboard ranked Rihanna as the tenth-most successful Hot 100 artist of all time and it also named her the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s. She has accumulated numerous awards and honours, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards.
Through her fashion ventures, Rihanna has become one of the wealthiest musicians; in 2021, she became the richest female musician at the time, with a net worth of $1.7 billion. Around the time of her second album A Girl Like Me (2006), critics often compared her style and sound to that of Beyoncé. She credits that song with sparking her passion for music and partly attributes her presence in the industry to Houston. She also mentioned that one of the earliest songs she developed an affection for was Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” (1992). As a child, she sang Whitney Houston songs and “A Whole New World” (1992) into her hairbrush so frequently that her neighbors started calling her “Robyn Redbreast”. She deemed him one of her all-time favourite artists, crediting him with “paving the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean”.
Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound with her fifth studio album, Loud, which was released on November 12, 2010. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. The incident and its aftermath influenced her artistically, prompting her to begin work on her fourth studio album, titled Rated R, one month after the Grammy Awards. The reissue of Good Girl Gone Bad, subtitled Reloaded, was released on June 2; selling 63,000 copies in its first week, it helped the original album rise to number seven in the US. The resulting album, Good Girl Gone Bad, was released on May 31, 2007, to critical acclaim. Aiming to dismiss her girl-next-door image in favour of a more mature and rebellious persona, she worked with such producers as Ne-Yo, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Tricky Stewart for the album.
“And, baby, that’s show business for you,” Taylor Swift declared after announcing her 12th full-length album, The Life of a Showgirl. But with The Life of a Showgirl, it’s clear she’s closing the chapter — or should we say era — of her life that was the catalyst to the new one she’s stepping into. Yes, she is still the same artist who wrote the fairytale-tinged record Fearless, crafted the indie pandemic escape that was folklore, and dove into the depths of her sadness on The Tortured Poets Department. After the muted sonic tones of The Tortured Poets Department, The Life of a Showgirl is possibly Swift’s most jubilant album yet.
If Taylor Swift was the soundtrack to navigating the early stages of teenhood, Fearless is Swift’s coming-of-age record. While her songwriting has developed and matured, feeling like an outsider and carving her own path is a theme she still writes about now, as seen on Midnights’ “You’re On Your Own, Kid.” On the track “A Place In This World,” a song she wrote when she was just 13, Swift sings about not fitting in and trying to find her path.
- Performing hit after hit while unveiling a baby bump, her 13-minute set became one of the most-watched halftime shows of all time with over 121 million viewers.
- In 2009, Rihanna was the center of a media firestorm after a domestic violence incident in which her then-boyfriend Chris Brown assaulted her before an awards show.
- On “The Life of a Showgirl,” she declares with her fellow showgirl that she isn’t handing over the baton just yet.
- From becoming the first woman and only artist to win a GRAMMY for Album Of The Year four times, to dealing with heightened media scrutiny, to breaking records with her Eras Tour, no one understands the highs and lows of being a showgirl like Swift.
- It also marked Rihanna’s first time veering away from her “girl next door” image, as the song’s subject matter deals with infidelity.
- Many of her music videos were shot as short films exploring issues such as love triangles, abuse and substance abuse romance, including “We Found Love” and “Man Down”.
An Unapologetic Queen
And in true Swiftian fashion, turning into a pop artist didn’t just prove her genre-shapeshifting capabilities — it further solidified her as an artist who is at her best when she freely creates to her desires and refuses to adhere to anyone. After years of identifying as a country artist and flirting with pop, Swift departed her roots to reinvent herself, no matter what her then-label or critics had to say. On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience “intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion” — all feelings that she’d describe as “red.”
It May Just Be Swift’s Most Romantic Album To Date
Their “FourFiveSeconds” is a pop-folk hybrid with a universal message about carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Another overlooked jam, her sultry “Can’t Remember to Forget You” duet with Shakira sees both stars trade lines about struggling to let go of an undeserving lover. Both larger-than-life productions won GRAMMYs for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
In August 2021, Forbes announced that Rihanna had become one of the richest entertainers in the world, estimating her net worth to be $1.7 billion at the time following the success of her cosmetic company. In lieu of another album, the singer-turned-entrepreneur, born Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, which also preceded a short-lived luxury fashion line. “20 years ago, i left my country, my culture, my food, and family to embark on a journey that started with the release of my very first body of music!” she wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a montage of her biggest career moments. Rihanna officially becomes a billionaire and Forbes names her the ‘richest female musician’
In contrast to the fairytale motifs and happy endings of Fearless, evermore saw Swift become fixated on “unhappy” endings — stories of failed marriages (“happiness”), lifeless relationships (“tolerate it”), and one-time flings (“’tis the damn season”). Like its (literally) folklorian sister, evermore was a surprise release at the end of 2020, marking the first time Swift didn’t have distinct “eras” between albums. It was exciting enough for Swifties to experience one surprise album drop from Swift, an artist who typically has an entire album campaign calculated. At the 2021 GRAMMYs, folklore took home Album Of The Year, making her the fourth artist in history to win three times in the Category. After its release, folklore became the best-selling album of 2020 after selling 1.2 million records. Lover became Swift’s sixth No. 1 album in America, making her the first female artist to achieve the feat.
She’d see visceral images in her mind — from battleships to tree swings to mirrored disco balls — and turned them into stories, sometimes weaving in her own personal narrative throughout, or taking on a narrator role and speaking from the perspective of someone she had never met. Crafting a world with characters like the folklore love triangle between those in “betty” and “august,” as well as Rebekah Harkness from “the last great american dynasty” (who once lived in Swift’s Rhode Island mansion), was Swift’s way of venturing outside her typical autobiographical style of writing. Without exactly setting out to create an album, she began dreaming of fictional stories and characters with various narrative arcs, allowing her imagination to run free. But Lover was more than any accolades could reflect — it was Swift’s transitional album in many ways, notably marking the first album that she owned entirely herself following leaving Big Machine Records for Republic Records in 2018. This evolution is mentioned throughout Lover, particularly in a direct callback to 2012’s Red, “Daylight,” which sees her describe her love as “golden” rather than “burning red.”
Released on November 20, Rated R marked a shift away from the upbeat sound of Rihanna’s earlier albums, embracing a darker, more introspective tone with rock influences. The case garnered widespread media attention, particularly after TMZ published a leaked police photograph showing Rihanna with visible injuries. In 2008, she announced her romantic relationship with singer Chris Brown and topped the Hot 100 once again with a feature on rapper T.I.’s song “Live Your Life”. Having sold nine million copies as of 2023, Good Girl Gone Bad is her best-selling album worldwide. In support of the album, Rihanna embarked on the worldwide Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, performing 80 concerts across five continents.
Eventually, her bold move to the United States at 16 years old marked the beginning of her journey to stardom, as she pursued her passion for singing and songwriting with determination. Despite these difficulties, Rihanna showcased resilience and creativity from a young age, channeling her personal experiences and pain into music. She is the eldest of three siblings, navigating a childhood fraught with challenges, including her father’s struggles with substance abuse and her parents’ tumultuous marriage, which ultimately ended in divorce when she was just 14. Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael Parish, Barbados, is a globally renowned pop star, singer, and fashion icon.
Gleefully playing the witch doctor, prolific singer/bassist Esperanza Spalding individually released every song (and an accompanying video) from her seventh album across 11 days before serving up its cauldron of genre-hopping sounds in full. (Rih recorded an equally moving sequel for her Loud album.) Three years later, the two confronted their inner demons in “The Monster,” and their musical chemistry scored a GRAMMY in 2015 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Final single “Te Amo” didn’t chart, but garnered a great deal of attention as the Latin-infused Stargate production depicts Rihanna being enticed by a female love interest. It also marked Rihanna’s first time veering away from her “girl next door” image, as the song’s subject matter deals with infidelity. Follow-up single “If It’s Lovin’ That You Want” stalled at No. 36 on the Hot 100, but still whetted fans’ appetite — as did her debut album, Music of the Sun, which is mostly comprised of dance-pop and dancehall tracks with hints of R&B (like “Willing to Wait”). Shortly after her 16th birthday, Rihanna left her home country for the U.S. to record a demo, which included her breakthrough hit “Pon de Replay.” The demo found its way into Jay-Z’s hands, and Hov signed the teen artist to Def Jam and the label expedited her 2005 debut album, aptly titled Music of the Sun.
That year, fans also got their first glimpse of the pop superstar alongside Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Anne Hathaway in trailers for Ocean’s 8, a female-led spinoff of the popular Ocean’s Trilogy which hit theaters in June 2018. It also spawned the popular radio hits “Needed Me” and “Love on the Brain.” At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Unapologetic won Best Urban Contemporary Album, marking the singer’s first win in an album category. In November 2012, Rihanna scored her first No. 1 album with Unapologetic. The pop star delivered her next effort, Talk That Talk, in November 2011. Rihanna returned back and better than ever in November 2010 with her fifth studio album, Loud.
Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Naomi Campbell hit the white carpet at CFDA Awards
Janelle Monáe featured Nancy not once but twice on 2023’s Album Of The Year-nominated The Age Of Pleasure, and sampled “Bam Bam” on “Water Slide.” In further recognition of her impact, Burberry asked Sister Nancy to participate in their spring/summer 2024 campaign, which was shot in Jamaica. She’s performed on global stages and can be seen regularly at New York hotspots such as Union Pool, Public Records, and S.O.B.’s. After hearing Nancy on Hot 97’s “Ebro In The Morning,” Jay-Z flew the legend to Jamaica to sing and feature in his hybrid music video-documentary. Kanye West prominently sampled “Bam Bam” in the Rihanna-featuring “Famous”; Nancy’s chorus comes in midway through the song, adding an ethereal quality to West’s braggadocio. With her rights restored, Sister Nancy’s trajectory changed dramatically in the latter half of the 2010s — due in no small part to nods and samples from two of hip-hop’s biggest artists. “I just couldn’t take no more. I just say it’s time for me to be compensated, and I just did what I had to do,” the icon says of her legal battle for royalties.
Elizabeth Taylor has appeared as a character in Swift’s songs before, particularly in rep’s “Ready For It…?” where she compares herself to the famous actress and entertainer. Comparatively, “Eldest Daughter” — track five, a spot Swift notoriously reserves for the most emotional song — is a love song about the masks we wear and the selves we choose to reveal. Throughout the record, dynamic and layered pop soundscapes mimic the same energy Swift was feeling both on and off stage. “I thought who better to ask to be a part of this song than the ultimate showgirl Sabrina Carpenter.” Instead of writing songs akin to “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” a song about performing in the midst of heartbreak and grief, Swift opted to focus on what people don’t necessarily see when they buy a ticket to a show. Now that the curtain is up and The Life of a Showgirl is out, read on for five key essential insights from Taylor Swift’s new album.
She especially enjoyed singing and won a high-school talent show with a rendition of a Mariah Carey song. As a child, she listened to Caribbean music, such as reggae, as well as American hip-hop and R&B. Rihanna (born February 20, 1988, St. Michael parish, Barbados) is a Barbadian pop and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singer who became a worldwide star in the early 21st century. In 2022, Rihanna advocated for reforming the global financial system to better address climate change and poverty, including providing aid to betista casino nations most affected by climate-related crises. In October 2019, she stated that she declined to perform at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show in support of Colin Kaepernick following the controversy surrounding his role in the national anthem protests. Proceeds from the single supported the fundraiser, which ultimately helped raise $100 million for cancer research.
She first gained prominence in 2005 with her debut album “Music of the Sun,” which quickly established her as a force in the music industry. Known for her unique style and chart-topping hits, she has influenced music and fashion worldwide. She told Winfrey that Brown may have been the love of her life and she has developed “a very close friendship” with him. The pair worked together on the song “Birthday Cake,” released that year.
