Rihanna

No matter what genre Rihanna touches or what artist she links up with, she brings her full self to each session whilst completely immersing herself into the music — taking on different personas to make the collab well worth it. Amid smash collabs, Rihanna and Coldplay’s intricate “Princess of China” number gets lost in the shuffle, but it speaks to her charm as it’s the band’s first album (2011’s Mylo Xyloto) to feature another artist. The one-off single is so quintessentially Rihanna that it notably kicked off her Super Bowl halftime show.
No longer was she the girl writing songs like “Fifteen” in her bedroom — now she was working through becoming a highly publicized figure. Although Swift’s eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift’s Eras Tour — Taylor Swift’s forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer’s current and more refined vocals. The album’s lead single, “Tim McGraw,” an acoustic country ballad inspired by Swift knowing her relationship was going to end, represents an intricate part of Swift’s songwriting process; meticulously picking apart her emotions to better understand them. As a songwriter, Taylor Swift set the tone for what would be expected of her future recordings — all songs were written by her, some solely and others with one or two co-writers.

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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”.

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It’s a highlight on The Life of a Showgirl as it’s a testament that, regardless of how much time has passed or the fame that Swift has achieved, she still looks back on those who changed her life early on. Swift doesn’t want you to get it twisted, though — this is an album about the life of a showgirl, not an album about being a performer. She’s no longer anxious in love (“Eldest Daughter,” “Honey”) and for the first time, she owns all of her work and is in complete artistic control (“Father Figure”).
The lead single, “Work”, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the third and fourth singles, “Needed Me” and “Love on the Brain”, peaking within the top ten. With an eclectic blend of genres such as pop, dancehall, and psychedelic soul, Anti peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, marking her second chart-topping record in the US. It spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it both Rihanna’s longest-running chart-topping single and the longest-running number one song in betista casino the US in 2011. To support the album, Rihanna launched the Loud Tour in June 2011, which included a record-breaking ten sold-out shows at The O2 Arena in London—the most by a female artist in the venue’s history.

  • In September 2012, the music video for “We Found Love” won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the honour more than once.
  • On Talk That Talk (2011), Rihanna expanded on her dance-pop style while adopting a more overtly sexual persona and incorporating elements of R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and dubstep.
  • Less than a year later, when Rihanna was only 16 years old, she left Barbados to move in with Rogers and his wife in Connecticut and work on recording a demo album.
  • Vocally, Rihanna’s strength lies in her ability to evoke raw emotion à la “Stay.” Featuring Mikky Ekko, the stripped-down, slow-burning piano ballad narrowly missed the top spot on the Hot 100 but gave Rihanna her 24th top 10 hit, surpassing Whitney Houston’s record of 23 in 2013.
  • And “Haunted,” a poetic lament to unrequited love (“Rose perfume, low-lit room/ I’ll pretend you’ll stay forever”) soundtracked by shuffling bossa nova beats and sultry strings, casts its most potent musical spell.
  • Her lead single “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z, lead the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping seven weeks and later won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2008.

Eminem feat. Rihanna — “The Monster”

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.

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As Swift revealed on May 30, she bought back the master recordings of her first six albums, marking the first time she’s been in control of her entire discography. Throughout a total of 31 tracks, the prolific songwriter shelved the glittery pop radio-friendly tunes in favor of more subdued, synthy and heart-wrenching songs. Midnights helped further solidify Swift’s larger-than-life status at the finale of the 2024 GRAMMYs, too, as she became the only artist in history to win Album Of The Year four times. Along with breaking several streaming records — including becoming the first album to exceed 700 million global streams in a week — it was Swift’s 11th No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, and was the highest-selling album of 2022 (and, remarkably, the second best-selling of 2023).

The thing that differentiated her from other writers — and still does to this day — is her songwriting. The world now knows Taylor Swift as a global pop superstar, but back in 2006, she was just a doe-eyed country prodigy. Despite its ghoulish title, artificial intelligence appears to be the object of terror in what many, including the GRAMMY voters who awarded it Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2024, regard as the highlight of SZA’s sophomore. But four years after the Team Edward vs Team Jacob saga wrapped up, folk hero Jason Isbell proved mythical bloodsuckers weren’t a barrier to awards success. David Bowie fans may well feel aggrieved that his post-punk classic “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” was entirely ignored by GRAMMY voters, while the bro-step banger it inspired was showered with awards. It’s a bold feminist act that helped power parent album CrazySexyCool to diamond status and was deservedly rewarded with Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal at the 1996 GRAMMYS (where CrazySexyCool was also crowned Best R&B Album).
Her musical career has been marked by experimentation, and she has stated that her goal was “to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I’d never been to”. She began vocal training during the recording of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) under the guidance of Ne-Yo, who taught her breathing techniques and vocal delivery. The song earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. Alongside Donald Glover, she starred in the film Guava Island (2019), in which she played his character’s love interest.

  • 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.
  • Jay-Z was immediately captivated, signing her on the spot and launching her career in the music industry.
  • Rose is a high-society young woman who is being forced into a loveless marriage with a wealthy man.
  • No longer was she the girl writing songs like “Fifteen” in her bedroom — now she was working through becoming a highly publicized figure.
  • Although Swift’s eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift’s Eras Tour — Taylor Swift’s forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer’s current and more refined vocals.
  • Rihanna has been described by the media as a pop and fashion icon, particularly since the release of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007).

Oldfield was rewarded for helping to scar a generation of moviegoers for life when a condensed version of his eerie masterpiece picked up the Best Instrumental Composition GRAMMY in 1975. And the soul legend further leaned into its supernatural theme in 2013 when he appeared as a witch doctor in a Bud Light Super Bowl commercial soundtracked by the ominous chart-topper. Along with giving GRAMMY gold to the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer and Vampire Weekend, the Recording Academy has embraced the odd musical spooktacular in several forms. “I have to appreciate ‘Bam Bam.’ I have no problem talking about it because it’s mine. I did the song, so I’m not tired of talking about it. I’m not tired of playing it either,” Sister Nancy says. “Mad Professor is someone I look up to. He’s a genius, and I love working with him,” Sister Nancy adds. She continues to release new music of her own, though she believes in letting projects simmer before embarking on something new.
In addition to her musical career, Rihanna acted in the movies Battleship (2012) and This Is the End (2013). In 2023 she returned to the stage for the first time in some four years, performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. Included in the total were prominent collaborations with hip-hop artists T.I. The album that followed later that year, Rated R, much of which she cowrote, was marked by icily stark production and brooding lyrics that touched on revenge. With the effervescent dancehall-inflected single “Pon de Replay” (2005), Rihanna immediately captured an international audience.
Swift’s now-frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff credits her as the first person to take a chance on him as a producer with “I Wish You Would” and “Out Of The Woods”; both tracks exemplified how future Antonoff-produced songs would sound on albums like reputation, Lover and Midnights. The night Red lost the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year in 2014, Swift decided that her next album would be a full-on pop record. Commercially, Red debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling country album and making Swift the first female artist to have three consecutive albums spend six or more weeks at the top of the chart. Following the more country-influenced Speak Now, some critics and fans found the pop songs on Red were too pop and the lyrics were too repetitive, possibly indicating that she might be selling out.
Following the career-pivoting Rated R, 2010’s Loud offered a welcome return to the West Indian artist’s earlier sound. Rated R showcased Rihanna’s undeniable star power, and allowed her to shed her good-girl image once and for all. Badgal RiRi returned to her dancehall roots on her fifth No. 1 “Rude Boy,” which offsets the album’s harrowing motif. The singer had grown in leaps and bounds while taking musical risks, even penning nine of Rated R’s 13 tracks (she had no writing credits on Good Girl Gone Bad). Following three multi-platinum albums in a three-year span, Rihanna’s rebranding as a rebel at heart reached its apex.
Its win for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2014 GRAMMYs, however, proved that Rihanna’s reign wasn’t letting up anytime soon. “Mr. Jesus, I’d love to be a queen/ But I’m from the left side of an island/ Never thought this many people would even know my name,” she pleads in the seven-minute two-parter. Her swagger is boisterous in “Phresh Out the Runway,” “Jump,” and strip club anthem “Pour It Up,” but “Nobody’s Business” really drives home the album’s theme of being unbothered. Vocally, Rihanna’s strength lies in her ability to evoke raw emotion à la “Stay.” Featuring Mikky Ekko, the stripped-down, slow-burning piano ballad narrowly missed the top spot on the Hot 100 but gave Rihanna her 24th top 10 hit, surpassing Whitney Houston’s record of 23 in 2013. One of Rihanna’s most precious offerings to date, “Diamonds” emerged as a self-love mantra due to its uplifting “Shine bright like a diamond” chant. Its lead single “Diamonds” resonated in an equally major way, giving Rih her 12th No. 1 on the Hot 100.
In 2016, it was confirmed that Rihanna would release her music through her own label, Westbury Road Entertainment, founded in 2005 and named after her childhood home in Barbados. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, 16 artist stakeholders co-own Tidal, most of whom own a 3% equity stake. He highlighted her multifaceted career, “from her business achievements through Fenty to her tremendous record as an activist and philanthropist”.
To celebrate Taylor Swift’s newest era with The Life of a Showgirl, GRAMMY.com looks back on all of her albums (Taylor’s Versions not included) and how each era shaped her remarkable career. Swift has become one of music’s most notable shapeshifters by refusing to limit herself to one genre, moving between country, pop, folk, and beyond. Oh, and she’s also won 14 GRAMMY Awards, including four for Album Of The Year — the most ever won by an artist. Upon the arrival of Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ take a deep dive into her discography and see how each album helped her become the genre-shifting superstar she is today. And “Haunted,” a poetic lament to unrequited love (“Rose perfume, low-lit room/ I’ll pretend you’ll stay forever”) soundtracked by shuffling bossa nova beats and sultry strings, casts its most potent musical spell.
Swift opted to lean more into radio-friendly hits, which resulted in songs like “Style,” “Wildest Dreams,” “Blank Space,” and “Shake It Off,” all of which became singles. 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. Much like her previous two albums, Swift included songs that were both inspired by her own life and being a fly on the wall. During her NYU commencement speech in 2022, she reflected on this era of her life as one of intense fear that she could make a mistake and face lasting consequences, so the songs were masked in metaphors rather than directly addressing adult themes in her music. Serving as a snapshot of Swift’s life and teenhood, she avoided songwriting stereotypes typically found in country music.
Rihanna has released numerous hits, including “Umbrella,” “Diamonds,” “We Found Love,” and “Disturbia.” Rihanna began her music career at the age of 16 when she signed with Def Jam records. In addition to her chart-topping hits, Rihanna has capitalized on her fame with lucrative endorsement deals and her own successful brands, including Fenty Beauty, which revolutionized the beauty industry with its inclusive products. As a pioneer of the music industry, her earnings from album sales, touring, and streaming have consistently placed her among the top earners in entertainment. As an expectant mother, Rihanna continues to inspire her fans, demonstrating a balance between her music career and her personal life.
In 2015, Rihanna became the first artist in history to have 100 million singles digitally downloaded and streamed. Interestingly, Unapologetic was the first Rihanna album to hit No. 1 on the pop charts. “Umbrella” topped the Billboard singles chart and earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. In 2007, Rihanna effected a transformation from teen pop princess to superstar and sex symbol with her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, fueled by its smash hit lead single “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z. In early 2011 the album’s sexually provocative single “S&M” became her 10th number one Billboard hit—which made her, at age 23, the youngest artist ever to reach that milestone.