[Seanie(:]

I've been a fan of Rihanna since she released Unfaithful years ago, but back then she wasn't as famous as the big stars.

And then after Umbrella she just got huge everywhere, especially after Don't Stop The Music and Take A Bow. Since then, she's been everywhere.

I just wonder how she did get so big. Because in 2005/2006 she was the average RnB artist like Ciara and now she's the biggest pop star in the world.

[digichant]

Sold her soul!!!!!!!

I joke, sort of.

[LandslideBrad]

Because she's amazing.

[Barry_Clarke]

Originally Posted by Seanie(:

I've been a fan of Rihanna since she released Unfaithful years ago, but back then she wasn't as famous as the big stars.

And then after Umbrella she just got huge everywhere, especially after Don't Stop The Music and Take A Bow. Since then, she's been everywhere.

I just wonder how she did get so big. Because in 2005/2006 she was the average RnB artist like Ciara and now she's the biggest pop star in the world.

Good Promotion, reinvention of her sound and image, preventing people from becoming bored, and she has very good songs which both the radio and the record buying public love. She is the definition of striking while the iron is hot. She and her team know the coming trends, she is a trend setter in all regards, she is the new modern day artist at the height of her career. Advertisements, tours, television appearances, face of brands., she sells her music well. Thats my opinion anyways.

[O.Michel]

Getting big when you're signed at a major label that is willing to really invest in you is easy. The real question is how did she convince the label to sign her? I don't think it was the vocals if this is anything to go by.

[tangsman]

Too many people with an awful taste in music.

[Aries_123]

Originally Posted by O.Michel

Getting big when you're signed at a major label that is willing to really invest in you is easy. The real question is how did she convince the label to sign her? I don't think it was the vocals if this is anything to go by.

idk maybe her looks had something to do it did she not audition for Jay-z or something?

[Eric_Blob]

Well, it was mainly Umbrella (and the GGGB album in general) which made her really huge. If it wasn't for Umbrella then the rest wouldn't have followed imo.

Although she was still pretty huge in 2005/2006 anyway (as was Ciara), even if she continued with that success she would've been successful imo. I mean, SOS was a much bigger hit than most of her recent singles.

Originally Posted by Aries_123

idk maybe her looks had something to do it did she not audition for Jay-z or something?

I think the story is that when she was about 16 she made a mixtape, including Pon de Replay, and sent it round to record labels. Jay-Z's label heard the song, and called her in to audition.

When I think about it, it's not THAT surprising Rihanna would get signed imo. For starters, she presented the record label with a ready-made hit for them. Also, she was extremely young (meaning they could get two decades out of her and she'd still only be in her mid-30s). She also has a good appearance (good-looking, and being light brown skinned and from the Carribean gives her more potential to crossover to different genres, and also means she can be successful worldwide (I know this isn't really PC, but it's the way it seems to be)). Also, she's not amazing at singing (especially back in 2004 I imagine), but she was good enough. You don't need to be an opera singer to be a good pop star. Not today anyway, it's not 1985 anymore.

Overall, I think Rihanna would've appeared very marketable at the time (and obviously as we've seen it turned out to be true).

Also, I think how she targetted record labels and got together with a producer to get her own tape together was probably impressive to the record label. Whilst that sort of thing isn't at all unusual for a rock band, it probably is for teenage girls wanting to be pop stars. The vast majority of girls that say they want to be pop stars just sit on Youtube singing covers of songs waiting to be discovered these days. Some of those girls are good singers, but it seems a bit lazy compared to Rihanna who went and found a producer to make lots of beats and record her and sent it to record labels. It shows that she was serious about what she wanted as a career.

The best vocalists in the world would probably make awful pop stars imo.

And I do think Rihanna is attractive, but a lot of that is down to the fact that she has some of the best fashion and make-up people in the world making her look nice. If record labels really just cared about looks for pop stars, there's hundreds of thousands of girls much more attractive than Rihanna that they could've signed.

[David_Petersen]

She didn't just send out mix tapes, she was discovered by one of the producers, while he was vacationing in Barbados, I think it was something about him overhearing her sing with her friends on the beach. She moved to America and lived with his family, and they made a couple of songs.

Also, Jay Z was actually kind of hesitant to signing her after hearing Pon De Replay, because he wanted to sign someone who could last, and not just send out one great song.

[Cloudbuster]

Her success is sooking the life out of music

[Sarah.OX]

Rihanna says in this interview how she got signed: http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news...655358,00.html

"I'd been developing my music and working with 2 producers (Evan Rogers & Carl Sturken) for a little over a year and they sent my music to Def Jam. Met with Jay-z and his team.... And the rest is history!"

[Lewnaticc]

A very dedicated team behind her, this is everyone from her agent to manager to hair stylist. She's a dollar sign to them, so they invest much money and time in her. She's a very lucky recording artist.

[MrMeatAndPotato]

Originally Posted by LandslideBrad

Because she's amazing.

Behave yourself.

[PopularCulture]

SOS was her break out hit,
Two girls were hired to the Def Jam label by Jay Z; Teairra Mari & Rihanna
"Make Her Feel God" & "Pon De Replay" were essentially pitted against each other and Teairra was (obviously) dropped. Things started to lag a bit for Rihanna with "If Its Lovin That You Want" and her debut album sales weren't tremendous for 2005. Christina Milian who was also on the label was offered the recording "SOS" and was basically forced to record it by her executives however, she adamantly turned it down because she wanted to be more urban and recorded "Say I" instead thus leaving "SOS" to get passed on to Rihanna. Christina's creative decision didnt really pay off (even though "Say I" was somewhat of a hit) and she was ultimately dropped due to do funding cut backs - which she states in an issue of Rap Up magazine, was due to the label wanting to spend more money on funding Rihanna after the success of "SOS".

[AdzPower]

Three things made her super popular.
1. Jay-z
2. Chris Brown
3. David Guetta

[Diceroll_81]

GGGB was a turning point in her career, but I think what happened afterwards with Chris Brown also had a big impact. It was that incident that made her a worldwide name - even people who didn't listen to pop music knew who she was because it was such a huge story.

[Carly_Thompson]

Umbrella gave her an international huge hit, that and Good Girl Gone Bad had some solid radio friendly catchy songs on it. After the huge third album her team didn't let the momentum die down, they kept Rihanna's name out there and haven't stopped since. Nowadays all the producers/songwriters will be wanting to give her their best material cause they know there's a huge chance it'll become a massive hit so it's probably easier nowadays to stay at the top of her game.

[Never Nude]

She had lots of people willing to spend a lot of money on her, sadly this is all you really need.

[Andrew_Duncan]

Originally Posted by AdzPower

Three things made her super popular.
1. Jay-z
2. Chris Brown
3. David Guetta

BIB- WHAT? How so? The only track she done with him was 'Who's that Chick?' which was one of her worst and by no means one of her big hits.

She keeps reinventing herself to keep people interested and got a hit and capatalised on the hype. That's it.

[Littlegreen42]

Umbrella - Only Girl (In The World) - Diamonds - ?

Domestic Abuse - S&M - Nude shoots - Drugs - ?

[Jack.Dawson.]

She consistently releases good Pop singles. At least as far as commercial music goes.

She is very unique in terms of her voice and thus stands out compared to her peers.

[Scratchy7929]

Originally Posted by AdzPower

Three things made her super popular.
1. Jay-z
2. Chris Brown
3. David Guetta

4. L.A.Reid and his A&R executive Karen Kwak / The-Dream (though it's hook is very cheesy - song rejected by Britney Spears even ) - good promotion ($$$$$) of the song got her noticed by the general 'pop' loving public
Umbrella (song)
6. Being in the right place at the right time
7. $$$$$$$ - good contacts / commercial partnerships with media outlets.

[Makson]

She just has that x factor

[Hollie_Louise]

I imagine it comes down to three things, the people that write hit after hit for her, promotion and the fact she is never out of the press and she keeps people interested by pretty much always having something about to be released.. She doesn't let people forget that she is there through constant single and album releases which I think will also become her downfall

[Scratchy7929]

bad link above - The-Dream / The-Dream

+ a write up on Karen Kwak http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/detail/208