The Evolution of...

 RIHANNA

I remember being in High School still (I believe) when TRL was still on and watching MTV after school to see this new girl. She was dressed not unlike Jasmine from Aladdin and was singing a sort of reggae dance song that was pretty good. Then I came to discover that this girl was named Rihanna. The song "Pon De Replay" was pretty amazing and I couldn't stop listening to it for some time. But for me, Rihanna then fell away for a while. It wasn't until after her sophomore album was out that I purchased Music Of The Sun and discovered an fantastic remix of her second single "If It's Lovin' That You Want"! She kept quiet for a bit...

... until she made an amazing reprise with her single "S.O.S." was released and I was hooked. The song was amazing. The video was spectacular. I to this day do not know of anyone who rocked a green top and golden skin like Rihanna in that video. This single was followed up by "Unfaithful", which I believe was the song that marked Rihanna's staying power in the world of Pop/Hip-Hop music. I watched her perform the single on TRL and she nailed it and I believe that nailing a ballad live is a way to proclaim you are here to stay! The following singles from A Girl Like Me were "We Ride" and "Break It Of (Feat. Sean Paul)" which were amazing songs but didn't end up charting as highly as her previous singles.

Then when it wasn't possible in my mind for Rihanna to exceed any of what she had presently been doing she released "Umbrella", one of the catchiest songs of her entire career. Good Girl Gone Bad was full of hits and she released many songs off of the album like "Shut Up and Drive", "Hate That I Love You", "Don't Stop The Music" and even songs that weren't singles like "Breakin' Dishes" charted and became very popular! The album was also Re-Released as Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded with additional singles "Disturbia" and "Take A Bow" which both were hits for Rihanna!

After this album and all of the success that Rihanna had achieved including 2 Grammy's, she had her fall-out with Chris Brown, which resulted in a much edgier sound from her. The Album Rated-R which didn't do as well commercially as the predecessor was still an album with great songs and earned some hits including "Russian Roulette" "Hard" and "Rude Boy"!

 Rihanna has just recently released her 5th studio album Loud which debuted at number one and is continuing to rule the charts with it's solid hit "Only Girl (In The World)" and the second single "What's My Name?"! She is now in the process of co-releasing both "S&M" and "Raining Men (Feat. Nicki Minaj)" which are sure to be more hits for this great entertainer who has grown so much from the 16 year old that danced onto the music scene 6 years ago! There is sure to be more to come from this girl. Look out!

Collaborations that Rihanna has been involved in include...