By Steve Jones, USA TODAY
The buzz: DJs across the country have been heeding Rihanna's plea to "turn the music up," making the 17-year-old Barbados native's Pon de Replay one of the summer's hottest jams. The pulsating dancehall tune is No. 3 on Nielsen/BDS' national radio audience chart. "We believed in it, but it happened a lot faster than we expected," says Robin Rihanna Fenty.
Bidding war: Rihanna — whose debut album, Music of the Sun, is due Aug. 16 — is getting used to things happening fast. Her four-song demo, made with producer/songwriter Evan Rogers (Christina Aguilera, Ruben Studdard, Kelly Clarkson), piqued the interest of several record labels, but Def Jam got to her first. She was signed on the spot after she auditioned for the label's new president and CEO, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. "They kept telling us, 'You're not going to leave until you sign,' " she says, giggling. "We just thought they were being aggressive, but they meant it literally. We had to cancel a whole set of meetings with other labels."
Glass slipper: Rihanna wasn't exactly working on a music career when she was discovered around Christmas 2003. Rogers, who with Carl Sturken makes up Syndicated Rhythm Productions, was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, Jackie, a Barbados native, and they were introduced to Rihanna through a mutual friend. He invited her to come to New York that spring to do some recording, and she was surprised by the chance to sing professionally. "I used to sing at home, in the shower and in front of the mirror, but I wasn't a known singer in Barbados," she says. "I did one talent show at my high school, and I won it singing Mariah Carey's Hero."
Profusion of fusion: Rihanna, who now lives in Connecticut, still has a lot of work ahead of her to capitalize on Pon de Replay's success. She'll spend the summer and fall on a promotional tour of the USA, Europe and Canada. No decision has been made on a second single, but there's a variety of ballads and dance songs to choose from. "My sound is really a fusion of reggae, hip-hop and R&B, with a little something different thrown in," she says.
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"you know how some people look good by looking good, you look good at looking ugly" - Girl told J at the mall "if being ugly is an STD you'll have full blown aids" - Girl told J at the mall on 7/21/06
I was about to thank you for making me feel better about my situation...
story?
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"you know how some people look good by looking good, you look good at looking ugly" - Girl told J at the mall "if being ugly is an STD you'll have full blown aids" - Girl told J at the mall on 7/21/06
Beyonce got a lil something going on with her eye.
Rhianna is cute enough face wise to play off the forehead thing if she keeps the hair right...lacking in the back but half of the R&B chicks out there are nowadays..
shes borderline average, all she got goin for her is a that chest and the make-up.beyonce look nice in her pic tho, got a cute look goin while not being so flashy.
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Lord forgive me... I aint know she was 17
