Rihanna is on a journey. From her Caribbean roots to the top of the charts, the runways of Paris and Milan and some of the biggest stages in the world, the 21-year-old, Barbados-born beauty has already earned the coveted title of international superstar. From her breakthrough multi-platinum album “A Girl Like Me” to her ubiquitous global smash “Good Girl Gone Bad,” in just a few short years, Rihanna has helped redefine the path of popular music for a new generation. Now, she continues that musical and stylistic journey on one of the most hotly anticipated new albums in recent history, her fourth original studio album, Rated R.
Upon turning 21, Rihanna in a recent interview with Today shares that she just entered a new chapter upon getting older, she states, “It’s turning point in my life. It was like everything just happened in that very moment, and I knew that everything happened for a reason, because I was about to start a whole new chapter.” She also shared that her new album is the continuation of that chapter. In the same interview, Rihanna states, “…it’s an extension of that chapter. This is a part of it. It’s definitely more fearless. You hear a lot more things in there that might shock you. I talk a lot about things, I talk about sex … We use a lot of bad words and a lot of metaphors. We had some fun with words…”
Rated R features the sultry, provocative first single “Russian Roulette,” which is rocketing up the charts at radio stations across the country. Though critics have created speculations that Rihanna’s sudden change of mood was due to her bad experience with Chris Brown, as Rihanna also explains the meaning of the osngs in her interview with Today, “…Russian Roulette might throw people off, but really and truly, the songs are real love songs. It’s different but it’s the natural step from the last album. I didn’t want to repeat myself so we kinda changed the sound up”.
It’s hard to imagine that just four years ago, Rihanna was a young girl living in the beautiful Barbados parish of Saint Michael. Her first connection to the music industry came when she met a vacationing music producer named Evan Rogers from New York City. After an impromptu performance for Evan, he was absolutely certain she would one day make history. Soon after, Evan and Rihanna traveled to the Big Apple in search of a record deal. It took just one meeting with Jay-Z and Antonio “L.A.” Reid for Rihanna to score her big break; Jay, who had just recently been appointed the President of Def Jam Records, was so taken by the young singer’s arresting natural talent that he signed her. All their hunches came true because now, Rihanna has a long line of accolades on her sleeve including her recent proclamation as on of Glamour’s Women of the year.
With her roster of albums that started with Music of the Sun, that included the hit “Pon de Replay”, her first platinum album, A Girl Like Me, featuring the #1 singles “SOS” and “Unfaithful”, multi-platinum record Good Girl Gone Bad, that included the phenomenal hit “Umbrella” plus “Shut Up and Drive,” “Hate That I Love You” (featuring Ne-Yo), and “Don’t Stop the Music” until Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded that featured “Take A Bow,” and “Disturbia”, Rihanna may be lined up for a greatest hits album but due to popular demand, she came up with an all original album instead.
After making an enormous impact in the music world, Rihanna decided it was time to give back to the community that had given her such tremendous support from the beginning. In 2006, she created the non-profit organization Believe, which is dedicated to providing medical services, school supplies and toys for children in need. She has also partnered with DKMS, the world’s largest marrow donor center, on multiple occasions.
Rihanna’s impressive discography and a growing collection of the music industry’s most cherished awards have proven that this is only the beginning. With her beauty, fashion and business sense to match, the Island girl turned international superstar will continue to rock the world for years to come. The journey continues!
Rihanna’s new album, Rated R is now available in all Odyssey, Astrovision, Music One and Fully Booked Stores in Standard and Special Philippines Edition.
Get Rihanna’s song, Russian Roulette as your ring back tone for free!
For SMART subscribers, just text RROULETTE to 2728
For Globe subscribers, Text KG714 to 2332
Rated R is exclusively distributed by MCA Music Inc.
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