Rihanna (2 page)

RiRi told
Vogue
: ‘When I was 14 and first started going out, I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls.

‘And I got desperate for things that weren’t available in Barbados. I would cut things out of magazines. I was obsessed with creating a visual with clothing, and the way things are combined.’

Rihanna’s first relationship with a boy was in high school. She confessed to
Rolling Stone
: ‘My first kiss was in high school, and it was the worst thing ever. He pretty much dumped his entire saliva glands into my mouth. It traumatized me. I didn’t kiss [again] for, like, ever.’

Melissa is still Rihanna’s best friend to this day. They are so close that they have each other’s birth dates as tattoos on their shoulders, and can tell each other everything. Nowadays Melissa is RiRi’s official ‘personal assistant’ and so she travels everywhere with her, gives her fashion advice, helps Rihanna to organise her time, and is often her sounding board when she has an idea about something. When she has boyfriend issues she can count on Melissa to be there for her and help her through it. Melissa didn’t have a problem about leaving her own family and friends behind in Barbados because
she knows how much Rihanna relies on her. In fact, Melissa is one of only a handful of people Rihanna can trust 100 per cent.

W
hen she was fifteen Rihanna decided to enter a talent show at her school. She might have been singing from when she was three years old, but she had always kept it a secret from the kids at school. Her family had been encouraging her because she was really good, and so Rihanna decided to go for it. She was the youngest girl in the competition but her voice more than made up for it: the other girls might have been two years older but they weren’t as talented as Rihanna. She sang ‘Hero’ by Mariah Carey and owned the stage. Indeed, she wasn’t put off by the number of people in the auditorium and walked around with confidence. ‘Hero’ is a difficult song to sing, but Rihanna wanted to perform a challenging number rather than an easy one. If you haven’t seen the video of her performance, you can check it out on YouTube. Back then,
she never even thought about having a singing coach, but she still managed to hit the high notes.

When it was announced that Rihanna was the winner she couldn’t believe it; she was overjoyed. Her family and friends were very proud of her, and the people in the auditorium felt blessed that they had seen her first big performance on a stage. Winning the competition made her even more determined to be a worldwide recording artist one day.

The following year she won the Miss Combermere Beauty Pageant, which Melissa helped organise, but singing was still her main focus. She might have had the looks to become a model, but Rihanna wanted more than that. She started making demos during the school holidays in the hope that they would lead to her securing a record deal one day. Her mum knew she was passionate about singing, but always told her that school had to come first. She made it clear that she would only let Rihanna drop out of school if she got a recording contract with a record label. Even when Evan signed her up at the age of 15, Monica still made her daughter stay on at school until the time was right: she wanted Rihanna to get her qualifications.

The main things that Monica taught Rihanna and her brothers when they were growing up were to be fearless and to take responsibility for their own actions. She might still live in Barbados, but Monica visits Rihanna in the US as often as possible. What’s more, she is a great cook, and Rihanna loves it when she gets to eat one of her mum’s
home-cooked meals. Rihanna is also close to her cousin Noella, who visits whenever she can.

Rihanna might be a big star but her father still has to work for a living. He is no longer a warehouse supervisor, and instead sells things from the back of his car. It is thought that Rihanna hasn’t helped him out financially just in case it gets him involved in drug use again. He has been ‘clean’ for years now, and everyone in the family wants him to stay that way.

Ronald’s mum Betty is very proud of her granddaughter, as are her other grandparents. Clara Brathwaite is the name of Monica’s mum, and granddaughter and grandmother are very close. When Clare was celebrating 50 years of being married to her husband Lionel in April 2009, Rihanna made sure she flew over for the family party in Barbados. She wouldn’t have missed her grandparents’ celebration for the world.

Rihanna is so busy that she can only visit Barbados a couple of times a year, but she flies her family out to wherever she happens to be regularly. She speaks to her mum on the phone all the time, at least once a day, and keeps in contact with her brothers too. Rorrey is now studying to be an architect, and it looks as if Rajad will be working on something to do with computers when he’s older.

Over the years Rihanna’s relationship with her father has been strained, but he has tried to give her advice at times. Back in 2007 he talked to her about drugs and the harm they can cause. Drugs tore their family apart, and they were a major part of his life for over twenty years before he
eventually kicked the habit. He actually started taking them when he was fourteen years old and still at school, and was a user when he first met Rihanna’s mum.

Of course Rihanna knew what drugs did to a person, having seen the effects of her father’s addiction, but she didn’t know what taking them was like firsthand. Ronald wanted to make sure it stayed that way, too – he didn’t want his daughter going off the rails like some other young stars. After they talked, Rihanna reassured him she wouldn’t be following in his footsteps. She is far too clever to do drugs!

Rihanna might be a big star now, but nothing has changed: she is still the girl from Barbados with a big heart. She doesn’t flaunt her celebrity status and enjoys tucking into boiled eggs and the other foods she ate while growing up.

Ronald insists that he doesn’t want any of Rihanna’s money and he just wants to be part of her life. Sometimes he wishes he could be by her side at awards shows, but he’s happy watching her on TV and seeing her whenever he can. He loves it when she rings and asks him to visit her.

At times Ronald and Rihanna have had a rocky relationship. In 2009 she fell out with him when he was visiting her in Los Angeles. He drank too much and rowed with her brother, so Rihanna simply decided that enough was enough, and had her father sent home. The two of them have mended their relationship now; they don’t see each other that much, because Ronald still lives in Barbados and Rihanna doesn’t have much time off from her hectic schedule, so when she does visit, she only has time to see him briefly, if at all. He has a daughter and
son from another relationship, but they are shielded from the media.

After Rihanna was beaten up by her boyfriend, Chris Brown, in February 2009, her father found it hard to look at the shocking photos of her face; he couldn’t even give his daughter a hug or comfort her because he was over 3,000 miles away. Ronald pitied Chris, because he had made such a huge mistake and had ruined things for himself: people would always remember and Chris would never be able to escape what he had done. Ronald knew this because of what happened in his own relationship with Monica.

R
ihanna might have won the school talent contest as a solo artist, but she felt that she would have more chance of success if she joined forces with two friends. Girl groups were huge at the time – from Destiny’s Child and TLC in the US, to the Sugababes and Girls Aloud in the UK – the music world was loving girl groups.

Rihanna and her unnamed group managed to find out through a friend that a New York music producer called Evan Rogers was holidaying in Barbados with his wife, who is Bajan. He visited family in Barbados every year, and was always on the lookout for talented singers. Rogers asked his associates on the island to tell him if they spotted any potential recording artists and one such friend suggested he allow Rihanna and her friends to audition for him.

Being informed that a music producer wanted to meet her was a massive deal for Rihanna, because she knew she would have one chance to impress him. She had to make sure the girls in her group were well rehearsed, looked good and were vocally ready. They didn’t have much time to prepare: Rogers was on holiday and would soon be flying back to New York.

Evan Rogers remembers the audition as if it was yesterday. He told
Kurama
magazine: ‘I thought Rihanna was a star from the moment she sang for me. She had a presence when she walked into the room. Her voice was raw but distinctive – and she wanted this career more than anything. I signed her without any hesitation. A true star is obvious to me from the moment they walk into a room. I could never have predicted how huge she would become, but I always believed she was a star from day one.’

During their audition the group sang ‘Emotion’ by Destiny’s Child, but Evan didn’t watch or listen to the other girls, just the shy girl with the beautiful voice. Rihanna might have been lacking in confidence but she impressed him very much. Rihanna was such a great singer that he chose to sign her as a solo artist, because he didn’t think she needed the other girls.

When Evan’s musical partner Carl Sturken heard Rihanna sing for the first time he was just as captivated, and the two producers wanted her to be the first artist on their SRP label. They asked Rihanna to come back a few days later with her mum, so they could discuss things and decide what they needed to do next.

Her two school friends didn’t kick up a fuss and to this day they have remained silent, even though they could have made a lot of money by selling their stories to the press.

Rihanna knew she would eventually have to move to the US, but she stayed in Barbados for another year. She went to school with her friends, studied and tried to act like a normal schoolgirl, but it was very hard. All she wanted to do was sing, but her mum made sure RiRi kept her feet firmly on the ground.

In the holidays she would fly out to Stamford, Connecticut, with Monica to record her demo in Evan Rogers’ studio. Shortly after she turned 16 she moved out there permanently, leaving her mum and the rest of the family behind in Barbados. Evan welcomed Rihanna into his home and introduced her to his family; she lived with Evan and his wife and family while he and Carl Sturken put the finishing touches to the demo, before sending it out to labels they thought might be interested.

The first label to respond was Def Jam, who simply loved Rihanna’s demo. Other labels were interested in her, but from the beginning it was clear that Def Jam were the keenest. Rihanna was only 16 but they saw that she had huge potential. They wanted to meet her and find out what she was like performing live.

Even though record labels were interested, Rihanna was still nervous – after all, she had to perform well, otherwise she could end up returning to Barbados a failure. Those classmates who had bullied her for being pale would have loved to get the opportunity to tease her about her big dreams being over.

Rihanna might have been 16 and far away from home, but there was no way she was going to mess it up. When she
found out that the man she had to impress was Jay-Z she got even more nervous, because she had never met anyone that famous before. He may have liked the demo but she knew any subsequent success depended on her performance.

Rihanna revealed to
Singers’ Room
magazine: ‘I was in the lobby, shaking! I saw just a little bit of Jay’s face down the hall and I had never met a celebrity, and to meet a celebrity who’s also the president of the label, that was crazy!’

As soon as Jay-Z came to introduce himself and took her into his office, she started to relax, though. She could see that he wanted her to succeed, not fail. Rihanna chose to sing Whitney Houston’s ‘For the Love of You’, ‘Pon de Replay’ and ‘The Last Time’ as these three songs showed off the different styles of music she could do. Jay-Z would already be very familiar with ‘For the Love of You’ but the other two tracks were completely new, having been written especially for Rihanna by Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken.

Jay-Z was joined by Def Jam CEO L.A. Reid; they were both overwhelmed by Rihanna’s talent and wouldn’t let her leave until she signed a contract. When she had finished singing, Jay-Z nodded towards her and said, ‘We’re interested.’

Rihanna will never forget that moment.

The pair didn’t want to let her out of their sight because they knew that she had other meetings planned. In fact, they had their lawyers work on the contract while they waited, and it was finally signed around three in the
morning. Rihanna was ecstatic and couldn’t stop smiling as she signed her name. By the time she left it was 4.30am. It had been a long day and night, but she finally knew she was about to fulfil her dreams. She was going to be a worldwide recording artist!

Jay-Z never expected to see her sing at 4pm in the afternoon and to still be in her company in the early hours. It is very unusual to sign an artist this way, and perhaps a bit crazy too. Most people would have slept on it and met up a day or two later, but he didn’t want anyone else stealing her from his label. Jay-Z knew immediately that Rihanna had the potential to be a huge star; he initially believed that ‘Pon de Replay’ might be too big for her, but he liked the way she performed and thought she had an amazing voice.

Once Jay-Z and L.A. Reid had signed Rihanna, it took three months to put together her first album before it was released.
Music of the Sun
came out on 30 August 2005 and ‘Pon de Replay’ was the first single. In the beginning Def Jam wanted fans to see Rihanna as ‘the girl next door’.

Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken were involved in writing and producing many of the tracks chosen for the album. The band J-Status, Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall, Jamaican singer Vybz Kartel and the musician Elephant Man all contributed as well. Because they had been working with Rihanna for over a year, they already had some of the tracks ready, so that helped to speed up the process.

The album did really well and sold 69,000 copies in the first week, which meant it reached No. 10 in the US charts – a fantastic achievement for any artist, let alone one just starting out. It has continued to sell well, and at the time of writing, more than two million copies have been sold since it was first released.

The album also performed well in the Canadian charts on its release, coming in at No. 7, and reached No. 12 in the Irish charts. It did less well in the UK, reaching No. 35.

Rihanna likened her first album to callaloo, a stew-like meal that is eaten in Barbados, announcing on its release: ‘My music is mostly Caribbean beats mixed with R&B. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into being just a dance artist because I can sing too. I have ballads on the album as well as upbeat tracks.’

She added: ‘Music is in my DNA.’

Rihanna was the one who actually came up with the name of the album,
Music of the Sun.
She wanted the sun to be in the title because it symbolises Barbados and where she’s come from, as well as herself (the track of the same name was written later on). She didn’t just record songs that people had written for her; Rihanna helped write some tracks, too. She worked on the lyrics for ‘Here I Go Again’, ‘Willing to Wait’, ‘Music of the Sun’ and ‘Now I Know’.

The tracks on the album are as follows:

1. ‘Pon de Replay’
   
2. ‘Here I Go Again’ (featuring J-Status)
   
3. ‘If It’s Lovin’ That You Want’
   
4. ‘You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)’ (featuring Vybz Kartel)
   
5. ‘That La, La, La’
   
6. ‘The Last Time’
   
7. ‘Willing to Wait’
   
8. ‘Music of the Sun’
   
9. ‘Let Me’
   
10. ‘Rush’ (featuring Kardinal Offishall)
    
11. ‘There’s a Thug in My Life’ (featuring J-Status)
    
12. ‘Now I Know’
    

Fans loved the album but reviews from the critics were mixed. Many thought it was too similar to the music Beyoncé and Ashanti were producing.
Slant
magazine gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five and said in their review: ‘
Music of the Sun
gets off to an aptly breezy start with the sunshiny “Here I Go Again” and “If It’s Lovin’ That You Want” (co-produced by Poke & Tone), but while most of the album coasts atop its light Caribbean influence, the middle stretch of the record sinks like a Janet album. The album’s final track, “Now I Know”, is a too-mature, outdated, and string-laden affair for such a young, seemingly “hip” artist. Still, if inconsistency is
Music of the Sun’
s biggest flaw, Rihanna is doing quite well by today’s paint-by-numbers R&B standards.’

Rolling Stone
magazine gave the album the same score and commented: ‘Photogenic Rihanna suggests a young Mariah Carey minus the birdcalls, and the generic vocal hiccups and frills clearly learned from American R&B often overwhelm her Caribbean charm. At 52 minutes, Rihanna’s debut overstays its welcome, but the single (“Pon de Replay”) justifies plenty of replays.’
Rolling Stone
went on to describe Rihanna as what ‘Beyoncé might have sounded like if she
had grown up in the West Indies and skipped the whole Destiny’s Child thing.’

The album cover art chosen for
Music of the Sun
was typical of those released by other young artists at the time. It showed Rihanna with pink glossy lips, big gold hoop earrings and a gold sequinned jacket looking out at the camera. Only her head and shoulders were visible. She looked like the perfect all-American teen – even though she wasn’t. The background was purple and pink, with her name in orange at the top above the title. It will always be a special cover to Rihanna and her family because this was her first release.

She had different cover art for the Japanese edition of the album, though. It was much simpler and Rihanna is shown standing up, leaning to the side. Her earrings don’t distract your attention away from her face as they do in the original cover, and the image actually looks more like the Rihanna we now know and love.

For the cover art of ‘Pon de Replay’, Rihanna wears the same gold sequinned top she wore in the video, with her hair wavy, and she’s smiling at someone (or something) off to her right. The background is black and there are twinkling lights up above, like stars. This time her name is at the bottom and the single’s title is inside a yellow shape underneath.

For ‘If It’s Lovin’ That You Want’, Rihanna is shown in another head-and-shoulders shot. This time her body is turned away, but she has turned her face to look at the camera. She isn’t smiling but she looks happy, and she’s wearing another pair of large gold earrings.

The first song to be released from the album was ‘Pon de Replay’, and it had actually been one of four tracks on the demo that Rihanna sent out to record companies. It was released on 25 August 2005 in the UK, and a day later in the US.

Rihanna didn’t like the song when she first heard it and thought it sounded a bit like a nursery rhyme. She trusted Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, though, and the more she sang it, the more she liked it; by the time she recorded the track, she thought it was a good song.

For ‘Pon de Replay’ she was using the language of Barbados, where they sometimes use broken English. ‘Pon’ means on, ‘de’ means the, and ‘replay’ is an instruction to the DJ to put her song on repeat.

For Rihanna, filming the video was a dream come true, because this was something she had always wanted to do. It was set in a club and she had to do a lot of dancing, which she loved. The concept was that she would arrive with two friends, notice how quiet the music was and that everyone was looking bored, and ask the DJ to turn the volume up. Once the music gets louder, everyone starts dancing.