The Evolution of Rihanna ✨

Written by: Caroline Walters

If there’s one thing about Rihanna, it’s that she’s perfectly good at making an incredible return to the music scene! She’s performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, and we can’t think of a better way for her to make a comeback. We’re eagerly waiting to see her performance and can’t help but look back on her career as we wait! 😍

Rihanna got her first big break when she was only 17 with the release of “Pon de Replay” in 2005! This song became an instant classic and is still everyone’s go-to when looking for throwback music. This was the first single from her debut album, Music Of The Sun, and peaked at number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart! She recorded it on breaks during the school year, so it took a little longer to be released. Overall, it spent 12 weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100 and 23 weeks on the Hot 100 in total, which is pretty incredible for a debut single! 🎤

Rihanna was instantly signed to Def Jam, Jay-Z’s label, and released her second album, A Girl Like Me, in April of 2006! The single “SOS” became her first number-one song and was even certified triple platinum in 2021. After the album was released, she went on her very first North American tour; Rihanna: Live in Concert. After her own headlining tour, she finished the year out by opening up for the Black Eyed Peas! ✈️

By 2008, she was being nominated for Grammy Awards left and right, and even won one for her song “Umbrella” with Jay-Z! This marked her very first Grammy win from the four categories she was nominated in. Her fourth studio album, Rated R, was released in 2009, and critics were calling the album her best one yet. Rihanna continued to release albums that charted incredibly high, with her fifth album LOUD earning her first Grammy nomination for Album of the Year! LOUD was the first album to have a feature from Drake on it, and since then, the pair have continued to collaborate and release music together. 🤘🏼

As often as Rihanna was releasing music, she was also pursuing other endeavors like acting! She made her break on the big screen with her role in the film “