Rihanna

RIHANNABy

Victoria Cubby

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, known by her stage name Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist, actress, and fashion designer.

History

She was born in Saint Michael Parish in Barbados.

Rihanna’s music career began in 2005 at the age of 16 when music producer Evan Rodger landed her an audition for Def. Jam Records. Def. Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused predominantly on hip hop and urban music.

• Rihanna has 7 albums all produce with her label Def Jam Records.

Albums

Rihanna is known for her sampling. Throughout the slides there will be examples of this. And for those who don’t remember…..In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece

Since the beginning of her career in 2005, Rihanna has sold 30 million albums and 120 million singles worldwide, which makes her one of the best selling artist.

Rihanna released her first single, “Pon de Replay” a reggae-influenced club track. With the success of this single Rihanna was announced as the next big up-and-coming pop star. 

Music of the Sun (2005)

Rihanna quickly gained the love and support of millions of fans, most of which are teenage females and their mother’s. This might have been partly because of her image, innocence, harmless lyrics, and adorable stage presence. 

Rihanna’s first album “Music of the Sun” was filled with an innocent image and dance music. For most people this was exactly the kind of artist society needed in pop music. During this point of Rihanna’s career most parents believed Rihanna to be an appropriate role model for young women. Her music was simply a display of her musical ability and the experience a young teenage girl experiences during the immature stage of her life.

Music of the Sun features Caribbean-influenced dance-pop, dancehall music, and R&B ballads.

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/30803/Rihanna-Pon-De-Replay-Lenky-Diwali-Riddim/

A Girl Like Me , peaked at number five in the United States, and produced her first Hot 100 number one single, "SOS".

A Girl Like Me (2006)

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/43/Rihanna-SOS-Soft-Cell-Tainted-Love/

A Girl like Me is a pop album influenced by Rihanna's Caribbean roots, and features dancehall and R&B songs. It also incorporates reggae elements and ballads, which music critics were ambivalent towards.

All together in this album she had 4 singles "Unfaithful" “Break it off”, "We Ride“ and “S.O.S”

This album spawned the international hit singles "Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia". The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella”.

Unexpectedly, in 2007 with the release of her third album “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna made a new appearance to world. Rihanna adopted a more rebellious attitude, sex driven, and violent lyrics. With this new public image, many parents and supports of Rihanna became infuriated. The once innocent and adorable singer had fallen into the steps of her female colleagues.

Good Girl Gone Bad

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/39/Rihanna-Don%27t-Stop-the-Music-Michael-Jackson-Wanna-Be-Startin%27-Somethin%27/

Good Girl Gone Bad is a dance-pop and R&B album with 1980s music influences.

Her fourth album, Rated R (2009), produced the top ten singles "Russian Roulette" and "Hard", plus the number one hit "Rude Boy“

Rated R (2009)

It incorporated elements of hip hop, rock, and dub step. It also explores other genres, such as dance hall in the Jamaican inspired song song "Rude Boy" and Latin in the song “Te Amo"

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/17306/Rihanna-Young-Jeezy-Hard-The-Jacksons-Can-You-Feel-It/

"Russian Roulette", features the album's dreary, gothic production style, incorporating a minor-key melody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2nCGawrSY 1:30

Rihanna's fifth album, Loud (2010), spawned the number one hit singles "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", and "S&M". The album featured several guest vocalists, including Drake, Nicki Minaj and Eminem.

Loud (2010)

Loud featured up-tempo and pop genres, ranging from dance-pop to electro-R&B, and marked the return to her dancehall roots. The album also incorporated rock in "California King Bed" and reggae in the Caribbean inspired "Man Down".

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/69007/Rihanna-Cheers-(Drink-to-That)-Avril-Lavigne-I%27m-With-You/

American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album

The album's second single “Whats my name?” features guest vocals by Drake, has an "island-pop" style and a backing track with "heavy reggae". Critics praised Rihanna's vocal performance in the song, as well as the romantic nature and its sexual tones.

Her sixth album, Talk That Talk (2011), served the worldwide chart topper "We Found Love" and the top five single "Where Have You Been".

Talk That Talk (2011)

The album is predominantly dance-oriented pop and R&B, that incorporates elements of hip hop, dubstep and house music. The album also continues to have subtle dancehall genres

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/126152/Rihanna-Where-Have-You-Been-Lucky-Starr-I%27ve-Been-Everywhere/

Rihanna’s lead single We Found Love became Rihanna’s biggest hit in the US for topping Hot 100 chart in the country for 10 non-consecutive weeks, dethroning her own 2007 smash hit Umbrella.

Rihanna's seventh album, Unapologetic (2012), became her first number one album on the Billboard 200 and generated her twelfth Hot 100 number one single "Diamonds" and the top five hit "Stay"

Unapologetic (2012)

In January 2012, Rihanna was named Best-Selling Digital Artist Ever.

The album incorporates Pop, EDM(electronic dance music), dubstep and urban music.

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/179013/Rihanna-Chris-Brown-Nobody%27s-Business-Michael-Jackson-The-Way-You-Make-Me-Feel/

“This is the REAL WORLD! The music industry isn’t exactly Parents R Us! We have the freedom to make art, LET US! Its your job to make sure they don’t turn out like US”

I picked Rihanna as my topic for two reasons.The first reason is because her upbringing was difficult for her with her father being addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine when she was a teen. Rihanna used music as her outlet away from her problems at home. She eventually took her own life into her own hands at the age of 16, left her family and country to fulfill her dreams and be successful.

The second reason I picked Rihanna is because since she became famous she has not taken a break. Rihanna is on top now because of this. Rihanna is spontaneous but she has no real special mark in the music industry. Because Rihanna is in the music business she can be replaced in a minute. But because she is SEEN all the time she is relevant for now. Rihanna hasn’t made a statement in the music industry but she is a fixture in pop culture and pop culture can change everyday. Because of this Rihanna music release music and have an image that changes with pop culture. She makes music for the time. This interested me because this is her way to fight for her career and to stay in the limelight. And also because she says stuff like this….

Finally