She scored another No. 1 hit with the single “Rude Boy,” while the tracks “Hard” and “Russian Roulette” landed squarely in the top 10. Good Girl Gone Bad remains her best-selling album with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. Her lead single “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z, lead the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping seven weeks and later won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2008. Her sophomore effort, A Girl Like Me, followed in April 2006, incorporating reggae, rock, and pop influences.
Her debut album, «Music of the Sun,» further solidified her presence, selling over two million copies worldwide and setting the stage for her meteoric rise in the years to come. Jay-Z was immediately captivated, signing her on the spot and launching her career in the music industry. Her journey from a small island to the bustling music scene of America marked the beginning of her transformational career. Relocating from her home in Barbados to Connecticut, she stayed with music producer Evan Rogers and his wife.
An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift’s Career
More than its predecessor, Fearless blurs the line between country and pop thanks to crossover hits like «Love Story» and «You Belong With Me,» yet still keeps the confessional attributes known in country songwriting. Even as a new country artist, critics claimed that she «mastered» the genre while subsequently ushering it to a new era — one that would soon see Swift dabble in country-pop. One writer in particular, Liz Rose, applauded Swift’s songwriting capabilities, stating that she was more of an «editor» for the songs because Swift already had such a distinct vision.
No longer was she the girl writing songs like «Fifteen» in her bedroom — now she was working through becoming a highly publicized figure. Although Swift’s eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift’s Eras Tour — Taylor Swift’s forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer’s current and more refined vocals. The album’s lead single, «Tim McGraw,» an acoustic country ballad inspired by Swift knowing her relationship was going to end, represents an intricate part of Swift’s songwriting process; meticulously picking apart her emotions to better understand them. As a songwriter, Taylor Swift set the tone for what would be expected of her future recordings — all songs were written by her, some solely and others with one or two co-writers.
And yet, she has still come out the other side, sparkling, self-assured and ready to revel in a career built on resilience and reinvention — something only a true showgirl could achieve. When she announced the album, she declared, «And baby, that’s showbiz for you.» No one knows that better than someone who has been through the ringer in the industry like Swift has. What is most apparent on the album, though, is just how much Swift embraces every aspect of who she is.
Curls Dominate the 2026 Grammys Red Carpet: Doechii, SZA, Olivia Dean and More
In addition to her film roles, Rihanna made notable television appearances, including recurring parts in the psychological thriller series «Bates Motel» in 2017. This hit catapulted her to international fame, earning her first Grammy Award and redefined her image as a confident and edgy artist. Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Barbados, swiftly ascended to global stardom after signing with Def Jam Records at just 16.
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.
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.
2006: Career beginnings with Music of the Sun and A Girl Like Me
«And it turns out that’s not the case at all … and we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record.» «I used to kind of have this dark fear that if I ever were truly happy and free being myself and nurtured by a relationship, what happens if the writing just dries up? What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain?» she said ahead of the album’s release. «Wood» is Swift taking cues from fellow showgirl Carpenter, winking at listeners as she weaves as many innuendos about the word as possible. «The Fate of Ophelia» might be Swift’s best lead single since «Mine» in 2010, thanks to its infectious beat and memorable chorus.
Adopting a more mature image, Rihanna rose to stardom and transitioned to dance-pop and R&B with the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and its reissue, subtitled Reloaded (2008). Known for her artistic reinventions, she is an influential figure in both music and fashion. She’s closing a chapter of her life — saying goodbye to the heartbreaks, pleading and scrutiny — and embracing a new, well, era that was quietly created during the behind-the-scenes of The Eras Tour. 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. Swift herself has long embodied independence through redefining over and over what it means to be a pop star for over two decades.
Rihanna on A$AP Rocky: ‘I chose right!’
A pop and reggae album, A Girl Like Me peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, with 115,000 copies sold in the US in its first week. Impressed, Rogers arranged a second meeting with Rihanna and her mother—this time without the other two girls—and later invited them to his hometown in Connecticut to record demo tapes for record label submissions. Around this time, Rihanna began listening to reggae artists such as Sizzla and Damien Marley, as well as R&B musicians like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. 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. These albums contained the US number-one singles «Rude Boy», «Only Girl (In the World)», «What’s My Name?», «S&M», «We Found Love», «Diamonds», and «Work». The albums spawned the singles «Pon de Replay» and «SOS», which peaked at numbers two and one on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
- Badgal RiRi returned to her dancehall roots on her fifth No. 1 «Rude Boy,» which offsets the album’s harrowing motif.
- A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
- Rihanna (born February 20, 1988, St. Michael parish, Barbados) is a Barbadian pop and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) singer who became a worldwide star in the early 21st century.
- The singer launched her makeup line, Fenty Beauty, in 2017, gaining instant popularity for its extensive range of shades catering to all skin tones.
- Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael Parish, Barbados, is a globally renowned pop star, singer, and fashion icon.
On «Father Figure,» she flips the power dynamic between a «showman,» someone who thought they were pulling the strings, and a showgirl. On stage, fans were seeing the same steadfast, resilient showgirl they were seeing throughout the tour perform three-hour sets. After The Tortured Poets Department provided insight into how she coped during the beginning of the tour while dealing with two relationships breaking down, producing tracks like «The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived» and «loml,» The Life of a Showgirl is a sharp turn in the other direction. The 12-track record is an amalgamation of what was going on behind the scenes throughout the latter half of The Eras Tour. Take a look at how tracks like «The Fate of Ophelia» and «The Life of a Showgirl» hint that Swift is happier and more inspired than ever.
«SOS» became her first song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, while «Unfaithful» was a top-ten single worldwide. The song was released on May 25, 2005, and became a commercial success, reaching number two on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Departing from Def Jam in favour of Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation, she released the eclectic Anti (2016)—her second number-one album.
- Although Swift’s eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift’s Eras Tour — Taylor Swift’s forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer’s current and more refined vocals.
- An interpolation of Toots and the Maytals’ 1966 song of the same name, Sister Nancy’s in-studio freestyle was laid over sparse rub-a-dub production, allowing her declaration of ambition and skill to ring loud and clear.
- Some songs, like «peace,» were recorded in just one take, capturing the essence and fragility in the song’s story, whereas the lyrics for the sun-drenched «august» were penned on the spot as Swift was in her makeshift home studio in Los Angeles.
- As a child, she sang Whitney Houston songs and «A Whole New World» (1992) into her hairbrush so frequently that her neighbors started calling her «Robyn Redbreast».
- The Super Bowl performance earned Rihanna five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
- From addressing the aforementioned VMA incident in the forgiving «Innocent» to a toxic relationship in «Dear John,» Speak Now also hinted that her rose-colored glasses were cracked, but Swift (and her songwriting) was only becoming stronger because of it.
The Tortured Poets Department proves that in the throughline of Taylor Swift’s many artistic eras is a commitment to exploration and a love of autobiographical lyricism. Celebrating her genre-defying and varied discography through The Eras Tour has resulted in old songs having a resurgence, new inside jokes and Easter eggs within the fandom, and a plethora of new listeners being exposed to Swift’s work. Country songs like «cowboy like me» and «no body, no crime» reaches back to Swift’s earlier work in narrative building, seamlessly crafting a three-party story with ease.
Midnights: Encapsulating Her Artistic Magic
Only eight months later, in August 2005, she released her first betista casino single, “Pon de Replay,” a reggae-influenced club track that reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart and announced Rihanna as the next up-and-coming pop star. Rihanna soon followed with the album A Girl Like Me (2006), featuring the up-tempo club-oriented “S.O.S.” The song, which was built around a sample of Soft Cell’s 1981 new-wave hit “Tainted Love,” became Rihanna’s first to top the Billboard singles chart. Rihanna has fourteen number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, placing her third for the most chart-topping songs in its history. The songs «Man Down», «California King Bed», and «Cheers (Drink to That)» were released as singles from Loud in 2011. The project yielded a string of successful songs, including the US number-one singles «Umbrella», «Take a Bow», and «Disturbia».
In turn, Swift hasn’t just become one of the biggest artists of all time — she’s changed pop music altogether. Since then, she’s released 12 studio albums, re-recorded four as «Taylor’s Version,» and cultivated one of the most feverish fan bases in music. Furthermore, the deluxe edition consists of 16 tracks, half of which topped the Dance Club Songs chart — smashing the record (previously held by Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream) for the most No. 1s from a single album. «Same Ol’ Mistakes» is a cover of psychedelic rock band Tame Impala’s «New Person, Same Old Mistakes» — her first time remaking another artist’s song for her own album since «You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)» on Music of the Sun. The album feels like one big celebration of life, as evidenced by Rihanna’s fire-engine red hair and No. 1 singles «Only Girl (In the World)» and «What’s My Name?» (the latter of which was Rih’s first collaboration with Drake). Despite being Good Girl Gone Bad’s lowest-charting single, Timberlake heralded the song as «the bridge for her to be accepted as an adult in the music industry.»
An interpolation of Toots and the Maytals’ 1966 song of the same name, Sister Nancy’s in-studio freestyle was laid over sparse rub-a-dub production, allowing her declaration of ambition and skill to ring loud and clear. In addition to her status as a rare female voice in a sea of male performers at the dawn of dancehall, Sister Nancy is recognized for her influential, highly sampled single «Bam Bam.» While Sister Nancy needn’t be reminded of her influence — «I’m the woman who created dancehall … on the mic system, around the sound system. I’m the one who did all of that, first» — the past 15 years have seen the artist receive her flowers on a global stage. «I will never be your ordinary thing. When you come to see me, it doesn’t matter the time or the space, it’s always going to be good.» «People love what I stand for. I always give the audience something they can think about,» Sister Nancy tells GRAMMY.com, Zooming in from a car in Midtown Manhattan.
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.
