Artist Playlists
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A report card for Robyn Rihanna Fenty, first issued by a school back in Barbados’ Saint Michael parish and later reprinted in a giant coffee-table book called <i>RIHANNA</i>, stated, in part, that the young Fenty was positive, sure of herself. She took a leading role in group activities. Most of all, she had ideas and seemed comfortable expressing them. Fast-forward to the present day and there remains something effortless about Rihanna, a sense of confidence that transcends any one narrative or style. Though her biggest tracks have tended toward some variety of dance pop (mixed with reggae, EDM, dancehall, R&B and so on), a closer listen reveals an artist willing to try just about anything—and the uncanny grace to sound good doing it. Describing the chameleonic nature of her clothing line, Fenty—the first female-created brand for LVMH, not to mention its first luxury label run by a black woman—Rihanna said the line didn’t have any fixed look, in part because her own was always changing. She was making things up as she went along, but when she went, she went full-steam ahead.<br /> Born in Barbados in 1988, she left high school to pursue music. Her 2005 debut, <i>Music of the Sun</i>, went Gold when she was just 17. By 2007’s <i>Good Girl Gone Bad</i>, she’d expanded the sunny Caribbean pop of her early work for sleek hybrids of hip-hop, R&B, club music and rock. The tracks were inescapable—“Umbrella”, “Don’t Stop the Music”, “Rude Boy”, “Work”—but also had genuine personality, not to mention a carnal sense of expressiveness that set her apart: Rihanna’s changes didn’t seem like the product of high-concept self-reinvention so much as gut feeling. After leaving Def Jam in 2014 for a spot with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, she took greater creative control for 2016’s <i>ANTI</i>, her most diverse album yet. - Studio versions of the songs from Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show.
- As down-to-earth as she can be, Rihanna’s also responsible for some of the most transcendently escapist pop songs of the past couple decades: Think “We Found Love” or “Don’t Stop the Music”, whose sense of tension-and-release whips dance floors into states of ecstasy. This is RiRi at her dance-pop best.
- Underneath her hard exterior, Rihanna’s just a soft romantic like the rest of us. And sure we all love her pop bangers and hip-hop cuts but her slower songs and ballads creep up on you, becoming fast favourites. Revisit her softer side in this collection featuring production from Stargate, Ne-Yo, Mikky Ekko and Justin Timberlake.
- Even Rihanna’s catchiest tracks are grounded by a sense of physicality that stands out, especially in the world of pop. “I can’t listen to her music and <i>not</i> want to move my body,” Fitness+ Pilates trainer Marimba Gold-Watts tells Apple Music—a quality that makes Rihanna as energising at the gym as she is on the dance floor. And if this set of her most upbeat, motivational tracks isn’t enough, just picture her performing at the 2023 Super Bowl with her baby bump. She’s not just using her body, she’s celebrating it.
- Part of what makes Rihanna stand out is how she took the bad-girl template and blew it up into something more complicated: an artist who could be unabashedly feminine but who could out-nasty her male counterparts at every turn, whose sexual frankness never got in the way of her tenderness or depth, who could be both dirty and genuine—you know, like a whole person. These are the tracks that highlight Rihanna at her most empowered and unapologetic.
- Not only has Rihanna made some of the best party tracks in recent memory, she’s arguably the biggest global pop star to really tap into the sound and feel of modern Caribbean music—a trend that has changed the course of pop as we know it. This playlist focuses on her fun side—songs that capture the joy and carefree sensuality that make her music a fixture at parties, from crowded kitchens to big, sweaty clubs.
- Rihanna isn’t just a magnetic personality, she’s got a great voice—a quality not always apparent in her brasher music, but one that comes out immediately in her ballads. And while the tracks here highlight her vocal range, they also explore a tenderness and vulnerability that make her as much an artist you can turn to for comfort and inspiration as one you can take to the club. We’ve all got that side, of course—but not everyone can bring it out.
- While Rihanna's biggest smashes inhabit 21st-century pop's hooky, hip-shaking ideal, her catalogue is full of left turns into unexpected territories. The thundering, mournful “American Oxygen” casts a gimlet eye on the American dream; the Future collaboration “Selfish” allows her to show off her silvery, sensuous upper register; and her reverent cover of Bob Marley's “Redemption Song” is a striking tribute to her Caribbean heritage.
- Sing along to your favourite Rihanna songs with this Sing-ready collection of her biggest hits.
- The Barbadian bombshell's saucy shows of strength, disarming displays of vulnerability and appetite for cutting-edge beats have helped shape the pop and R&B charts of the late ‘10s. Acts like Fifth Harmony and Kehlani combine powers with irresistible, club-ready hooks à la Rihanna; tracks like Camila Cabello's “Havana” and Major Lazer and MØ's “Lean On” summon Caribbean influences in a way that recalls Ri-Ri's “Rude Boy”.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
- Rihanna's potent combination of seductive style, cutting-edge beats, and forthright lyrics echo personality-driven, sex-positive pop smashes from decades past like Janet Jackson's strutting kiss-off “Nasty” and Madonna's bedroom jam “Erotica”. She also salutes her Barbadian heritage by incorporating island-inspired rhythms into her songs, à la Grace Jones' nu-disco come-on “Pull Up to the Bumper”.
- From hits to deep cuts, breaking down the samples that have inspired one of music’s most vital artists.