On February 12th, 2023, Rihanna performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. Her performance drew 121 million viewers, making it the most–watched halftime show performance. Rihanna has impacted and influenced people of all ages through her backstory, music, and beauty line.
Rihanna was born on February 20, 1988, on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. She is the oldest of three children born to Monica Fenty and Ronald Fenty. During Rihanna’s childhood, her father was an alcoholic and substance abuser. This led to her Mother and Fathers divorce when she was only 14 years old. Rihanna called their relationship “very abusive”. Rihanna used music to escape her difficulties at home and formed a music group with two of her friends while she was a teenager. That eventually led the three of them to audition for music producer Evan Rodgers who at the time was visiting the island with his wife. Rodgers was instantly impressed by Rihanna so much he admitted that “The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the two other girls didn’t exist.” Rodgers then helped Rihanna record a demo album. In January 2005, Rihanna auditioned for Def Jam Records new president Jay-z. He signed Rihanna on the spot. Rihanna’s story of evolving from a girl from an island to a world-renowned celebrity has inspired people to believe that they can do anything they put their minds to and achieve their dreams no matter how big or small it is.
In August 2005 Rihanna released her debut song “Pon de Replay”. This song immediately caught the attention of the world, and it shifted popular music trends. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart and announced to the world the arrival of Rihanna. Eight months later Rihanna released her first album “Music of The Sun” which had the major hit “Pon de Replay”. This album was heavily influenced by Caribbean music. It was also the revival of Dancehall and inspired many female musicians. A year later Rihanna released her second album “A Girl Like Me”. This album had the No.1 single hits ”Unfaithful” and “SOS”. In 2007 Rihanna came out with her 3rd album “Good Girl Gone Bad”. This album was her transition from “cute teen pop-princess” to “superstar”. Rihanna moved away from her Caribbean music roots moving towards “a more up-tempo dance track”. This album had multiple hits, reaching No. 2 on the charts, and the lead single ”Umbrella” became No.1 pop song of the summer. Umbrella dominated the U.S. pop, urban and crossover billboard charts for 52 weeks in a row. This song also got Rihanna her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. In early 2009 Rihanna was assaulted by her then boyfriend, R&B star Chris Brown. Later that year Rihanna’s released her ”emotionally riveting” album “rated r”which touched on revenge. Rihanna earned another major hit with the song ”rude boy”. The single ”Russian roulette” was Rihanna’s 12th billboard hot 100 placing her second among female hot 100 artists in the decade since 2000. Rihanna’s 2010 album “Loud“ contained the song ”s&m”. This song reached number one on the billboard hot 100 making Rihanna the youngest artist to achieve ten number one singles. In 2011 Rihanna released her 6th album ”talk that talk”. The song ”we found love” was a global hit giving Rihanna her second MTV video music award for video of the year. This song also got Rihanna her 6th Grammy award for best short form music video. In November 2012 Rihanna began her “777” tour where she performed in 7 different countries in 7 days. This tour served as a promotional for her upcoming album “unapologetic”. Unapologetic was Rihanna’s first No. 1 on the billboard 200. In the animated film ”Home Rihanna voiced as the character Tip. Rihanna provided three singles to the film’s soundtrack. Around 2014 Rihanna changed her label Def Jam Records to Jay-z’s Roc Nation label. Rihanna’s most recent album “ANTI” made chart history. It was released on January 28, 2016. This album earned Rihanna her second consecutive No. 1 album with 166,000 first week sales. The lead single “work” hit No.1 in 91 countries in less than 36 hours after its release. In the song “work“ most people think Rihanna is speaking “gibberish”, but she is actually speaking in dialect. The dialect is used throughout the Caribbean where Rihanna grew up. Six years after Rihanna’s last music release, she dropped the song ”Lift Me Up” on Friday, October 28, 2022. The song was the lead single for the Marvel movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It was a tribute to Chadwick Boseman and marked Rihanna’s comeback to music. During the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime show Rihanna performed for the first time since 2016. The performance drew 121 million viewers, breaking the record and marking her performance as “the most-watched halftime show performance of all time”. She performed multiple of her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits and revealed she was pregnant with her second child. Throughout Rihanna’s music career her songs have hit number One on the Billboard chart 14 times and has become “one of the most streamed musicians of all time”. Rihanna has changed the music industry in many ways, impacting and inspiring people with her music. She’s started new trends and has brought people together by incorporating many different types of culture throughout her musical career.
In 2017 Rihanna launched her own beauty line called Fenty Beauty. When Fenty first launched most people thought it would be another ”celebrity-backed brand”, but instead of trying to further her platform like other celebrity brands or rely on her celebrity status Rihanna wanted to increase inclusivity in the beauty industry. The launch of Fenty offered 40 different shades of foundation which changed the game in the beauty industry. Using unique marketing strategy Fenty acquired 72 million in one month. What makes Fenty different from other brands is it is more inclusive to ethnic minorities who are often excluded from other brands. Fenty also has lower price tags compared to other luxury brands even when Fenty is considered a ”luxury brand”.
Rihanna performed at the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show drawing in 121 million viewers, breaking the record and
marking her performance as ”the most-watched halftime show performance of all time”. Rihanna has made a significant impact on people of all ages through her personal backstory, diverse music, and successful beauty line. Since 2019 Rihanna has been on and off working on her 9th music album. Fans call it “R9”. There is no official release date for this album.
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