The Princess of Pop, Rihanna has been dominating the industry since she came on the scene in 2005. The ‘Pon De Replay’ singer became an instantaneous star at the tender age of 17. Since then, the Barbados artist has grown from strength to strength by carving her niche in the fashion, cosmetics, and music industries.
It has been 17 years since Rihanna is in the industry. She has given us some dance-worthy albums, collaborations, and singles. Be it her smashing 2005 single ‘Pon de Replay’ or the playful Caribbean track ‘Work’. Rihanna had a wide range of discography, but post ‘Anti’, the pop sensation took a break from music. Now, she is coming back to give the Navy what they have been waiting for with ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. Since she is making her come back, let’s look at the top 10 career-defining songs for Rihanna.
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10) We Found Love Ft. Calvin Harris (2011)
The time when RiRi rejuvenated her career from the dancehall and pop decade, she entered the new decade with EDM. The song was conceptualized and written for ‘The Pussycat Dolls’ fame Nicole Scherzinger. However, Rihanna along with the Scottish DJ Calvin Harris gave us the house theme party song of the year that year. It became the No.1 single of 2011 charting the Billboard 100 charts for ten weeks.
9) B*tch Better Have My Money (2015)
Hide that money, because bad gal RiRi was out to snatch it! In 2015, the pop artist dropped a revenge fantasy for the audience, which got polarizing views. This ratchet, savagery that she presented audio and video-wise was one of the defining moments of what creative potential she possessed. Kanye West and Travis Scott were also on the track. The song is speculated to be inspired by a real-life situation. The singer’s accountant reportedly cheated on $9 million in 2012, so the imagery may be inspired by that incident.
8) What’s My Name Ft. Drake (2010)
Those were good ol’ days when Drake came as the emerging talent on the block and RiRi released her fifth studio album ‘Loud’. This was the first Drake and Rihanna collaboration that happened. This was supposed to be a song without a feature, but StarGate got onto the song as Rihanna thought “he was the hottest rapper out right now.”
7) SOS (2006)
The 2000s was the decade when Rihanna gave the slickest, hard-hitting, club numbers. After the 2005 debut with two singles and ‘Music of the Sun’, Rihanna established herself as a hitmaker and SOS became the first No.1 song on the charts.
6) Te Amo (2009)
It hurts when the love is unrequited! This is what Rihanna presented in ‘Te Amo’ from the fourth studio album ‘Rated R’. The album came after the horrifying relationship with Chris Brown. The songstress went away from pop and went edgier and brought rage to it. Why ‘Te Amo’ stands out is because RiRi explored the unrequited lesbianism theme in this Latin-induced song. Despite the edgier elements in other songs on the album, the song balances it with the painful rejection of desires.
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5) All Of The Lights (2010)
When it comes to rap features, Rihanna was one of the favorites of rappers. So, when Kanye curated a choir-esque song featuring the likes of Drake, Elton John, Kid Cudi, and John Legend. However, RiRi led as the vocalist in this meticulously produced anthem. The end of the decade proved that Rihanna could eat any artist on the feature.
4) Work Ft. Drake (2016)
The groovy Caribbean hit had people put work on the dance floor. It was a homage to the dancehall genre. A breakup song wrapped into a party song got people dancing. The essence of the song is that a woman is tired of putting in that effort or “work” in that relationship. The seductive, sultry dance number became a fan favorite and it is still reminiscent of the Drake-RiRi era.
In an interview, she described how the enunciation held the authenticity of dancehall and her roots. Rihanna said, “Because I felt like if I enunciated the words too perfectly, it would just not be the same attitude or the same sass. Because that’s how we speak in the Caribbean.”
3) Man Down (2010)
At the end of the 2000s, Rihanna was at her creative best experimenting with music and bringing freshness to her discography. The Bob Marley track ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ inspired the idea for the song. Not only the theme, but the genre of reggae, socca, and dancehall also inspired the singer to put together the song with modern electro sonics. She recounted how she killed her assaulter which became a point of contentious but did she ever hold herself back?
2) Love On The Brain (2016)
The last album before Rihanna took a hiatus from music was where she not only barred her soul but there was a cross-pollination of genres. In this slow, falsetto-induced, soul track, RiRi served the Navy with modernized words with the energy of the old-school soul.
1) Umbrella Ft. Jay-Z (2007)
When the good girl went bad, she became one of the renowned names in the industry. RiRi established that she is here to stay. The song gained Rihanna her first Grammy and gave her recognition worldwide. With heavy inspiration from Rock and the undercurrent rhythm of drums and guitar, she made getting drenched in rain powerful. With the industry heavyweight Jay-Z, she became a global phenomenon to reckon with!
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