Highly regarded as Swift’s magnum opus, Red sees the singer shed the fairytale dresses and the girl-next-door persona to craft a body of work that has now been deemed as her first «adult» record. Writing the entire album herself, Swift used Speak Now to prove her songwriting prowess to those who questioned her capabilities. For the first time since becoming an artist, she was forced to reckon with the concept of celebrity and how turning into one — whether she wanted it or not — informed her own writing and perception of herself. On the album’s liner notes, Swift says Fearless is about «living in spite» of the things that scare you, like falling in love again despite being hurt before or walking away and letting go.

  • With these endeavors combined with her musical empire, Rihanna has not only cemented her legacy in music but also positioned herself as a powerful icon in the world of entrepreneurship.
  • The thing that differentiated her from other writers — and still does to this day — is her songwriting.
  • The Tortured Poets Department proves that in the throughline of Taylor Swift’s many artistic eras is a commitment to exploration and a love of autobiographical lyricism.
  • She has also earned nine number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart and ranks second to the Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the country.
  • «And it turns out that’s not the case at all … and we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.»
  • 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.

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In 2014, Shakira featured Rihanna on her single «Can’t Remember to Forget You». In December 2013, she topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart with a feature on Eminem’s song «The Monster». Rihanna made a cameo in the comedy film This Is the End (2013), and later collaborated with rapper Wale on his remix of the single «Bad». To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, performing seven shows in seven countries over the course of seven days. 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. In March, Rihanna and Brown released two remixes—her track «Birthday Cake» and his «Turn Up the Music»—which were criticized due to their history of domestic violence.
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. Fans rejoiced at having songs to comfort them during difficult times, and artists like Maya Hawke, Gracie Abrams, and Sabrina Carpenter credit folklore for inspiring them to create and be even more emotionally honest in their songwriting. Other songs, including «Death By A Thousand Cuts» and «Cornelia Street,» are Swift at her most vulnerable, reflecting on a love lost and grappling with the extreme worry that comes when you could potentially lose someone. When Swift released the lead single «Look What You Made Me Do,» a song she initially wrote as a poem about not trusting specific people, many assumed the album would center on vengeance and drama. The album also earned Swift several awards — including her second Album Of The Year GRAMMY, which made her the first female artist to ever win the award twice.

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The Tortured Poets Department proves that in the throughline of Taylor Swift’s many artistic eras is a commitment to exploration and a love of autobiographical lyricism. Celebrating her genre-defying and varied discography through The Eras Tour has resulted in old songs having a resurgence, new inside jokes and Easter eggs within the fandom, and a plethora of new listeners being exposed to Swift’s work. Country songs like «cowboy like me» and «no body, no crime» reaches back to Swift’s earlier work in narrative building, seamlessly crafting a three-party story with ease.
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.
Rihanna also said that Carey’s «Vision of Love» (1990) was the song that inspired her to pursue a career in music. Vulnerability is explored on the pop and synth-pop record Unapologetic (2012), which Vulture described as an «act of defiance … to sort out her feelings about her … ex-boyfriend Brown and her public image». Rihanna’s rock-imbued record Rated R (2009), released after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced since then.

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She especially enjoyed singing and won a high-school talent show with a rendition of a Mariah Carey song. As a child, she listened betista casino 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 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.
Her work has influenced artists such as Lorde, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Kim Petras, Marilyn Manson, Jessie J, SZA, Ayra Starr, and Demi Lovato. In July 2015, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed 100 million gold and platinum song certifications. In 2012, she set a Guinness World Record as the best-selling digital artist in the US.

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And on Aug. 13, she opened up about the concept and creation of the record on her now-fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, «New Heights.» To help explain this chapter of her life, Swift brings together a myriad of collaborators — from Stevie Nicks as fellow poetess, to duets with Florence Welch and Post Malone — and leans on real and fictional characters, like Clara Bow, Peter Pan («Peter»), and Patti Smith. It pokes fun at so-called fans who overstep with her personal life («But Daddy I Love Him»), says goodbye to a city that gave her a home («So Long London»), and muses on how her own celebrity has stunted her growth («Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?»). As a result, there had arguably never been more excitement for a Taylor Swift album than for The Tortured Poets Department — especially because the announcement came on the heels of her lucky 13th GRAMMY win in February.
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.
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.

  • Much like her previous two albums, Swift included songs that were both inspired by her own life and being a fly on the wall.
  • The song earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song.
  • 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.
  • Rihanna’s music is primarily R&B and pop singer, and incorporates elements of various genres like dancehall, EDM, and adult contemporary.
  • 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.
  • Elsewhere on ANTI, Rihanna drunk dials an ex («Higher»), compares smoking weed to her lover («James Joint»), and chastises a guy for getting emotionally attached after their fling («Needed Me»).
  • After moving to the US, she was exposed to a wide range of musical genres, which she said had a profound effect on her.

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». The album’s lead single, «Diamonds», topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Rihanna’s twelfth number-one song on the chart. A synth-pop record with EDM and hip-hop elements, Unapologetic debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, becoming Rihanna’s first chart-topping album in the US. Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 250 million records. «She continued to make incredible art and so this is a love song kind of through the lens of the motif of what she had to go through in her life and sort of the parallels that I feel in my own life.»
The singer/songwriter also picked up a Best Traditional Pop GRAMMY in 2024 for her second LP, an immaculate collection of jazz, pop and classical that bridged the gap between Gen-Z and the Great American Songbook. Still, as a love song dedicated to wife Amanda Shires — and the quiet acceptance that the Grim Reaper will inevitably end their story — it’s certainly no less emotional. Just four years after picking up five GRAMMY nominations for their transatlantic chart-topper «Love the Way You Lie,» unlikely dream team Eminem and Rihanna once again joined forces for another hip-pop masterclass. Traditional Appalachian folk song «O Death» had previously been recorded by the likes of gospel vocalist Bessie Jones, folklorist Mike Seeger and Californian rockers Camper Van Beethoven, just to name a few. The King of Pop picked up a whopping 11 nominations for his first blockbuster album, Thriller, and then converted seven of them into wins, including Album Of The Year. Considering how perfectly Mike Oldfield’s prog-rock epic Tubular Bells complements all-time classic horror flick The Exorcist, it’s remarkable to think that it was recorded before director William Friedkin came calling.
Rihanna became the youngest and fastest solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to accumulate ten number-one singles. In late 2008, she released «Rehab», the fifth and final single from Good Girl Gone Bad; it peaked within the top 20 of the charts in both the US and UK. The following singles, «Shut Up and Drive» and «Hate That I Love You», saw moderate success, while the album’s fourth single, «Don’t Stop the Music», peaked at number three in the US.
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.
«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.
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.
An interpolation of Toots and the Maytals’ 1966 song of the same name, Sister Nancy’s in-studio freestyle was laid over sparse rub-a-dub production, allowing her declaration of ambition and skill to ring loud and clear. In addition to her status as a rare female voice in a sea of male performers at the dawn of dancehall, Sister Nancy is recognized for her influential, highly sampled single «Bam Bam.» While Sister Nancy needn’t be reminded of her influence — «I’m the woman who created dancehall … on the mic system, around the sound system. I’m the one who did all of that, first» — the past 15 years have seen the artist receive her flowers on a global stage. «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.» «People love what I stand for. I always give the audience something they can think about,» Sister Nancy tells GRAMMY.com, Zooming in from a car in Midtown Manhattan.
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».

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“If you listen to the lyrics to that song, you know the depth and how far she’s come.” “The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn’t exist,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2007. The post featured a photo of Rihanna holding her new daughter, Rocki Irish Mayers, who was born on September 13. Rihanna is a Grammy-winning singer known for such No. 1 pop hits as “Umbrella,” “SOS,” “Diamonds,” and “Work.” In 2023 Rihanna revealed she was again pregnant by performing at the Super Bowl halftime show with a visible baby bump; her representatives subsequently confirmed that the singer was expecting her second child. Rihanna’s personal life attracted intense media attention.