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.
- She deemed him one of her all-time favourite artists, crediting him with «paving the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean».
- On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience «intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion» — all feelings that she’d describe as «red.»
- She is the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has seven diamond-certified singles and fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
- While half of The Life of a Showgirl’s 12 tracks peer into the darker corners of fame and explores the loneliness, scrutiny and fractures that used to come with it, the other half are dedicated to falling completely head over heels.
- The album’s lead single, «Diamonds», topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Rihanna’s twelfth number-one song on the chart.
In August 2021, Forbes announced that Rihanna had become one of the richest entertainers in the world, estimating her net worth to be $1.7 billion at the time following the success of her cosmetic company. In lieu of another album, the singer-turned-entrepreneur, born Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, which also preceded a short-lived luxury fashion line. «20 years ago, i left my country, my culture, my food, and family to embark on a journey that started with the release of my very first body of music!» she wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a montage of her biggest career moments. Rihanna officially becomes betista casino a billionaire and Forbes names her the ‘richest female musician’
An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift’s Career
The album’s first half features strong 1980s pop influences, while the second half leans more toward traditional R&B. Rihanna’s music is primarily R&B and pop singer, and incorporates elements of various genres like dancehall, EDM, and adult contemporary. Rihanna became the first person to headline a Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant, revealing her pregnancy during the performance. The Super Bowl performance earned Rihanna five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). In August, she was honoured with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed a series of medleys of her most successful songs. The album was released exclusively on the streaming service Tidal on January 28, 2016.
The song’s success buoyed sales for her debut full-length recording, Music of the Sun (2005), on which conventional R&B ballads shared space with Caribbean-flavored dance-pop that showcased her melodious Barbadian lilt. About the same time, she started a girl group with two friends, and in 2004 she attracted the attention of Evan Rogers, an American record producer. In September 2008, Rihanna joined fifteen other female artists to record and perform the song «Just Stand Up!» during the Stand Up to Cancer television special. That year, she released a photo book documenting the Last Girl on Earth tour, serving as a companion to her album Rated R (2009). Rihanna has eight number-one singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, seven on the Airplay chart, and sixteen on the Rhythmic chart. Jocelyn Vena of MTV News observed that Rihanna often creates music videos that are thought-provoking and aligned with the themes of her songs.
Armageddon —her first full-length since 2001’s Sister Nancy Meets Fireproof — was released this summer, seven years after it was recorded with Mad Professor in the U.K. In 2016, Sister Nancy received 10 years of back royalties as well as royalties going forward, which allowed her to retire from the bank and pursue music full time. Like many artists of her era who either had bad contracts or no contract at all, Sister Nancy did not benefit from the popularity of «Bam Bam» for the majority of her career. «And remember, I had songs before that like ‘One, Two’ and ‘Transport Connection’; they were playing, but I didn’t hear ‘Bam Bam’ until I come to the U.S.» Yet the song made its way to the States, where it found popularity in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut’s Caribbean diaspora and caught the ear of hip-hop innovators of the ’80s. She recorded the early dancehall anthem in 1982 when she was just 20 years old as a last-minute addition to her debut album, One, Two.
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.
Videography and stage
The line debuted in a Paris pop-up on May 22 before a worldwide online release seven days later, featuring clothing, accessories, and footwear. It included an array of products including foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush compacts, lip glosses, and blotting sheets, and was praised for offering shades that catered to all skin tones. The $10 million partnership produced a wide range of beauty products, with the first collection released on September 8, 2017, in stores and online across more than 150 countries. Over the next two years, she released a variety of footwear in different styles and colourways, all receiving positive responses from critics and consumers alike. Rihanna went on to collaborate with numerous fashion houses, including Dior, Stance, and Manolo Blahnik. She also established a photography agency, A Dog Ate My Homework, representing photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson.
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.
- At its heart, The Life of a Showgirl goes beyond the fame, accolades, praise, and anything else Swift has been awarded in her 20-year career.
- In 2008, Rihanna topped the chart three times, twice with her own songs “Disturbia” and “Take a Bow,” plus a feature on T.I.’s “Live Your Life.”
- But if you want to add a bit of prestige to your supernatural soundtrack, there’s another list of Halloween-friendly songs to check out — one that highlights another celebrated annual occasion.
- Like its (literally) folklorian sister, evermore was a surprise release at the end of 2020, marking the first time Swift didn’t have distinct «eras» between albums.
- Every album era has seen Swift reinvent herself over and over, which has helped pave the way for artists to explore other musical avenues.
- In August 2021, Forbes announced that Rihanna had become one of the richest entertainers in the world, estimating her net worth to be $1.7 billion at the time following the success of her cosmetic company.
- 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.
Swift also found a new sense of creativity within this new mindset, one where she aimed to still embed playful themes in her songwriting but with less snark than that of «Blank Space» and «Look What You Made Me Do.» Leaning into Lover being a «love letter to love,» Swift explored every aspect of it. After finding love amongst chaos with reputation, Swift was learning to deal with the anxiety and fear of losing her partner — became a major theme of another aptly titled album, Lover. With time, though, it became clear that the response to reputation became muddled with the public’s overall perception of her at the time — some even claimed that Swift was ahead of her time with the album’s overall sound. Although Swift said that the album has its vindictive moments — even declaring that the «old Taylor» is dead on the bridge of «Look What You Made Me Do» — it’s a vulnerable record for her. Following the release of 1989, Swift became a cultural juggernaut, and the album has had an omnipresence in music since. And where some might trade a hit or two at the expense of their artistic integrity, Swift didn’t falter — instead, her lyrics were just as heartfelt and intimate as they were on prior albums.
It May Just Be Swift’s Most Romantic Album To Date
Her musical career has been marked by experimentation, and she has stated that her goal was «to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I’d never been to». She began vocal training during the recording of Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) under the guidance of Ne-Yo, who taught her breathing techniques and vocal delivery. The song earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. Alongside Donald Glover, she starred in the film Guava Island (2019), in which she played his character’s love interest.
A$AP Rocky trial brings clashing closing arguments over gun as Rihanna brings tiny sons to court
While the world is still anticipating her ninth studio album, Rihanna — now a mom of two boys — continues to make her own rules and move at her own pace. With the glorious «Lift Me Up,» she found herself in the top 10 for the first time since 2017’s «Wild Thoughts.» Ever since ANTI, Rihanna’s devoted fanbase has been begging for a new album, with Rih playfully trolling them with responses like «I lost it» and Instagram captions that read, «Me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it.» Accolades aside, ANTI is proof that magic happens when an artist of Rihanna’s caliber follows their own instincts in pursuit of creating a body of work — one that can outlast them and continue to inspire generations to come. For instance, «Sex with Me» is featured on the deluxe edition as a bonus track, but managed to crack the Hot 100 at No. 83 and reach No. 8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. 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»).
In June 2016, Rihanna released «Sledgehammer» as part of the film soundtrack for Star Trek Beyond. Announced in November 2015, the Anti World Tour was launched in March 2016 in support of the album. In late 2015, Rihanna signed a $25 million deal with Samsung to promote its Galaxy product line, with the company also sponsoring the rollout of her eighth studio album, titled Anti, and its accompanying tour.
Rolling Stone included her single «Umbrella» in its list of the «500 Greatest Songs of All Time» and her album Anti amongst the «500 Greatest Albums of All Time». She is the UK’s third best-selling female artist of the 21st century, having sold seven million albums. In August 2018, Billboard ranked Rihanna as the tenth-most successful Hot 100 artist of all time and it also named her the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s. She has accumulated numerous awards and honours, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards.
And in true Swiftian fashion, turning into a pop artist didn’t just prove her genre-shapeshifting capabilities — it further solidified her as an artist who is at her best when she freely creates to her desires and refuses to adhere to anyone. After years of identifying as a country artist and flirting with pop, Swift departed her roots to reinvent herself, no matter what her then-label or critics had to say. On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience «intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion» — all feelings that she’d describe as «red.»
Following the release of Unapologetic and the ensuing tour, she expressed a desire to take a break from recording, saying she wanted «a year to just do whatever I want artistically, creatively». That same month, the Official Charts Company reported she had sold 3.87 million records in the country over the past year, placing her at number one among the 2013 Brit Awards artist nominees. Rihanna’s seventh studio album, titled Unapologetic, was released on November 19, 2012. A dance-oriented pop and R&B album, Talk That Talk opened at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 198,000 copies, while debuting atop the UK Albums Chart with 163,000 units sold. Rihanna aimed to explore more sexually expressive themes on her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, which was released on November 18, 2011. A dance-pop record, Loud debuted at number three in the US with first-week sales of 207,000 copies.
It’s a highlight on The Life of a Showgirl as it’s a testament that, regardless of how much time has passed or the fame that Swift has achieved, she still looks back on those who changed her life early on. Swift doesn’t want you to get it twisted, though — this is an album about the life of a showgirl, not an album about being a performer. She’s no longer anxious in love («Eldest Daughter,» «Honey») and for the first time, she owns all of her work and is in complete artistic control («Father Figure»).
Redefining its titular term, the four-week chart-topper finds the husky-voiced T-Boz freely admitting to straying from an unaffectionate relationship, proving that the playa anthem wasn’t solely the reserve of their male counterparts. But the song itself did pip fellow superstars Prince, Billy Joel and Lionel Richie to the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance crown. Backed by some fast and furious fiddles, «The Devil Went Down to Georgia» tells the tale of a young musician named Johnny who bumps into Beelzebub himself during a jam session in the Peach State.
In December, Nancy will headline a celebration of her career featuring female artists including Renée Neufville. In August, she released a new Mad Professor-produced album, Armageddon — her first LP in over 20 years. Rihanna comes out of left field with the Prince-inspired «Kiss It Better,» the album’s second single, which sees the superstar falling back on addictive sex that «feels like crack» to justify a destructive relationship. The black-and-white, red paint-splattered album cover signals a rebirth, featuring a real-life image of Rihanna as a child. Released four years after Unapologetic — her longest gap between albums at the time — ANTI illustrated Rihanna’s greater desire for quality over quantity. With 13 No. 1s and twice as many top 10 hits under her belt, Rihanna set out to create timeless music instead of chasing a radio-friendly formula with her 2016 magnum opus, ANTI.
An Artist Fully Realized
Swift felt a «quiet conclusion» after finishing up evermore, describing that it was more about grappling with endings of all «sizes and shapes,» and the record represented a chapter closing. «Closure» is a «skittering» track that has the same energy as tracks like Lover’s «I Forgot That You Existed,» whereas the ballad «champagne problems» is thematically reminiscent of Swift’s Speak Now track «Back To December» where she takes responsibility for her lover’s heartache. Folklore’s impact on the zeitgeist at a time where everyone was stuck at home helped shape people’s quarantine experience. She worked remotely with two producers — again working with her right-hand man Jack Antonoff, and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner from The National.
