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Rihanna · S1 E2
Ronald and Monica
Rihanna's father battles crack cocaine and alcohol addiction. The fights are constant, the money disappears, and a little girl learns to build walls around herself while the house falls apart
A hotel lobby in Barbados, 2003. American producer Evan Rogers agrees to hear a fifteen-year-old sing after a phone call from a local contact, expecting nothing special.
Rihanna ft. Jay-Z -- Umbrella (official music video). The song that turned a Barbadian teenager into a global superstar, produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart. Silver body paint, falling water, and the vocal hook that defined 2007.
Umbrella (2007)
From Good Girl Gone Bad, originally written for Britney Spears but passed to Rihanna at the last minute. Jay-Z's opening verse stamps the track with Def Jam authority, but the song belongs to Rihanna's chorus, a four-note melody so simple it became unavoidable. The production is all staccato percussion and synthetic strings. It spent ten consecutive weeks at number one in the UK.
The Audition
Rihanna brought two classmates with her to sing for Rogers, but the moment she opened her mouth the room shifted. She performed a Destiny's Child cover with shaking hands and a rock-solid voice. Rogers called his partner Carl Sturken that same night and told him to clear their schedule.
TAP TO REVEAL: What did young Rihanna do to try to stop her father's addiction?
“The minute Rihanna walked in, she commanded the room. It was like the other two girls didn't even exist.”
— Evan Rogers, quoted in White, Danny. "Rihanna: The Unauthorized Biography." 2012
Desperado (Rihanna)
From ANTI (2016). A track about someone who runs from vulnerability, who moves too fast to let anyone get close. The sound of a woman who learned as a child that the people you love the most can hurt you the worst.
At what age was Rihanna when her parents finally divorced?
Rogers invites Rihanna to his studio in Connecticut to record proper demos. A tape is being built that will land on Jay-Z's desk at Def Jam, and the teenager from Bridgetown has no idea what is coming.
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