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Music of the Sun

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Music of the Sun is the debut album of Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released August 26, 2005 on Def Jam Recordings. Rihanna worked with several producers for the album, mainly Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers who produced and penned most of the tracks on the album. It features guest contributions by Kardinal Offishall, J-Status, and Vybz Kartel. Primarily an R&B album, Music of the Sun incorporates musical elements of dance-pop and caribbean music genres such as dancehall and reggae-pop, which reflect on Rihanna's background.

The album debuted at number 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 69,000 copies in its first week. It produced two singles that achieved international chart success, including "Pon de Replay" and "If It's Lovin' that You Want". Upon its release, Music of the Sun received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. It was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), after sales in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. To date, the album has sold over two million copies worldwide.

Conception

Background

Rihanna was fifteen-years-old when she formed a girl group with two other classmates.[1] She met record producer Evan Rogers in 2003, while vacationing in Barbados, who was introduced by one of her friends and auditioned for him.[1] After auditioning for Rogers, she shuttled back and forth to his home in Stamford, Connecticut. When Rihanna turned sixteen, she relocated in the United States and moved in with Rogers and his wife.[2] She spent the next year recording a four-song demo, which included her first hit "Pon de Replay", with the help of Rogers and his partner Carl Sturken. In January 2005, Rihanna moved to New York[2] along with Rogers to begin sending her four-song demo to various record labels.[2] Within weeks she inked an audition with Def Jam and was invited to audition for rapper turned Def Jam president Jay-Z.[1] Rihanna, who sang Whitney Houston's "For the Love of You," was eventually signed in one day.[1]

Recording

After signing with Def Jam in February 2005,[2] she began working on her debut album with several producers including Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Stargate and Poke & Tone.[3] Though, the album was primarily produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, whom she previously worked with on her demo. The album completed within a three month period; from February 2005–May 2005. When recording the album's future lead single for her demo recordings, she revealed that when she first heard the song she didn't want to record it.[4] She stated; "when I first heard that song, I didn't want to do it, because it was very sing-songy and very... whatever [...] But after I started recording it, I went along with it and started liking it."[4] While working on the album she recorded the song "The One" with label-mate Memphis Bleek for his fourth studio album 534. After coming up with the album's title, Rihanna recorded the song "Music of the Sun," which was written by Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, and co-written her.[5] She developed her writing skills with the help of Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers and also co-wrote three other songs on the album including the song of the same title.[5] In a 2005 interview, she stated:

Luckily I met two producers who discovered me in the first place and signed me to their production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions. They work with a lot of pop artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard. They are great guys and I really enjoyed working with them. They are excellent song writers so they really helped me develop my writing skills.[5]

— Rihanna

The album features twelve songs and a remix of "Pon de Replay" with Elephant Man. For her debut album, Rihanna stuck with her Caribbean background style. Her music at the time featured soca and reggae genres due to her Caribbean descent. Music of the Sun includes the singles "Pon de Replay", "If It's Lovin' That You Want," and, in Japan, "Let Me". The album features guest appearances by Elephant Man, J-Status, Vybz Kartel and Kardinal Offishall.

Music

"Pon de Replay"
With the lyrics Hey Mr. DJ, "Pon de Replay," being a dance record, talks about having the DJ play music again.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Music of the Sun was musically inspired by the variety of caribbean music genres, which includes soca, dancehall, and reggae, although the album incorporates some American genres, using a mixture of dance-pop and contemporary R&B.[6] The music on the album showcases her musical roots and also reflects on the album's title.[5] Rihanna explained that the word "sun" represents her culture where she's from, the Caribbean.[5] "It represents me. So the album consists of Music of the Sun."[5] The songs in the album are varied with the first half of the album containing a reggae sound.[7] With songs about the effect of love, the album falls into the contemporary R&B influence.[7] The second half of the album starts off with dancehall up-tempo songs, however, the album's closing tracks contain ballads-oriented songs.[7]

"Pon de Replay", which features production from Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, is the opening track of Music of the Sun. Set as the album's lead single, the song helped introduced the tradition of mixing reggae and dance-pop. The album starts off with an aptly breezy start with reggae oriented songs like "Here I Go Again," "If It's Lovin' that You Want" and "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)."[7] In the song "Here I Go Again," the second track, Rihanna sings being in love and having the same feeling towards the guy—not being able to get over the guy. The album's second single, "If It's Lovin' That You Want", is a mid-tempo song and samples the beat of "The Bridge Is Over" by Boogie Down Productions."[8] Following the album's fourth track, the middle stretch of the album contains a contemporary R&B sound, which includes songs like "That La, La, La," "The Last Time" and "Willing to Wait."[7] The song of the same title of the album—"Music of the Sun"— talks about the focal point of the album's title. With the following songs, "Rush" and "Let Me," dancehall is introduced to the album. Music of the Sun ends with the slow and moody songs, "There's a Thug In My Life" and the ballad-oriented "Now I Know." Although the slower ballad, "Now I Know," was panned by critics calling it too-mature for a young hip artist.[7] The album's closing track is a remix to the album's lead single which features Jamaican artist Elephant Man.

Release and promotion

The album's lead single, "Pon de Replay", was released on August 22, 2005. The song was a commercial success peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100, being held off the top spot by Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together,"[9]. To promote the album, Rihanna performed at the pre-show of the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, two days before the album's release.[10] The album was released on August 30, 2005 in the United States through Def Jam Records. After the album's release, she continued her promotion by performing at the NFL Opening Kickoff pre-game concert[11] and also giving fans a free concert at City Place Mall in Silver Spring, Maryland.[12] The album's second single, "If It's Lovin' that You Want", was released on November 28, 2005, peaking at number thirty-six on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's ninth track, "Let Me" was supposed to the international third single, but was only released in Japan, peaking at number eight. "Pon de Replay" was licensed for the music video game "Samba de Amigo" when SEGA and Gearbox Software re-released the game on the Nintendo Wii.

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
Boston Herald[13]
Canal Pop[14]
Entertainment Weekly(C)[15]
The Jamaica Observer[16]
New York Post[17]
The New York Times(mixed)[18]
PopMatters(5/10)[19]
Rolling Stone[20]
Slant Magazine[21]

Upon its release, Music of the Sun received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. Some critics, who enjoyed the summer catchy hit single "Pon de Replay", gave the album a positive review, while others described Rihanna as yet another Beyoncé-Ciara-Ashanti cash-in. Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic commented on the album's lead single calling it a "booming dancehall-lite beats and a reggae vocal cadence [...] it's a simple dance-pop song at its core, with standard English-language singing as well as a can't-miss singalong hook."[7] Birchmeier described most of the album by saying; "Music of the Sun descends into faceless slow jams after a while, overall consistency not being among its attributes, but thankfully it picks up the pace toward the end [...] The result is one of the more engaging urban dance-pop albums of the year."[7]

Rolling Stone magazine rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars and described as lacking the replay value, ingenuity and rhythm of the single with "generic vocal hiccups and frills" of US R&B inflecting upon her "Caribbean charm". Walters found "Pon de Replay" to be "a poppy piece of dancehall reggae with slapping, syncopated beats recalling big-band jazz."[22] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album as a "glut of teen R&B chanteuses " and described her lead single "Pon de Replay" as "a dancehall-pop mixture that owes plenty of its sweat and shimmy to Beyoncé's "Baby Boy"."[23] Cinquemani also commented that while most of the album coasts atop its lite Caribbean influence, the middle stretch of the record sinks like a Janet album and compared the track "Willing To Wait" to Jackson's "Let's Wait Awhile".[23]

Commercial performance

Music of the Sun debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and at number two on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums, selling 69,000 copies in its first week.[24] The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 1, 2006, selling in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States.[25] As of July 23, 2010 the album has 593,000 copis in the U.S.[26] In Canada, the album managed peak within the top ten debuting at number seven on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album was later certified platinum, with a total sales of 100,000 in the country alone.[27] Internationally Music of the Sun failed to reach the top ten in other countries. However, the album peaked at number thirty-five in the United Kingdom on the UK Albums Chart and was awarded a Gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry.[28] In Ireland, the album debuted at number twelve on the Irish Albums Chart and in New Zealand the album reached number twenty-six on the New Zealand Album Chart. Worldwide, Music of the Sun has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

  1. "Pon de Replay" (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Alisha Brooks, Vada Nobles) – 4:06
  2. "Here I Go Again" (featuring J-Status) (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, J-Status, Rihanna Fenty) – 4:11
  3. "If It's Lovin' That You Want" (Jean Claude Oliver, Samuel Barnes, Alaxsander Mosely, Scott Larock, Lawrence Parker, Makeba Riddick) – 3:28
  4. "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" (featuring Vybz Kartel) (Dawn Penn, Ellas McDaniel, Willie Cobbs) – 4:20
  5. "That La, La, La" (Full Force, D. Emile) – 3:45
  6. "The Last Time" (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken) – 4:53
  7. "Willing to Wait" (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Nathan Watts, Henry Redd, Cotton Greene, June Deniece Williams, Rihanna Fenty) – 4:37
  8. "Music of the Sun" (Diane Warren, Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Rihanna Fenty) – 3:56
  9. "Let Me" (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Mikkel SE, Tor Erik Hermansen, Makeba Riddick) – 3:56
  10. "Rush" (featuring Kardinal Offishall) (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken) – 3:09
  11. "There's a Thug in My Life" (featuring J-Status) (E. Jordan, Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken) – 3:21
  12. "Now I Know" (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Rihanna Fenty) – 5:01
Bonus tracks
  2. "Pon de Replay" (Remix featuring Elephant Man) (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Alisha Brooks, Vada Nobles) – 3:37
  3. "Should I?" (Japanese & UK editions only) (featuring J-Status) – 3:06
  4. "Hypnotized" (Japanese edition only) (Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Rihanna Fenty) – 4:15

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Chart history

Release history

Country Date
Europe August 26, 2005
United Kingdom[34] August 29, 2005
Canada[35] August 30, 2005
Japan
United States
Germany[36] September 5, 2005
Australia September 26, 2005

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Rihanna: Biography". People. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  2. ^ a b c d Watson, Margeaux (2007-06-22). "Caribbean Queen: Rihanna". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  3. ^ Reid, Shaheem; Paco, Matt. "Jay-Z's Picks: Teairra Mari, Rihanna and Ne-Yo". MTV News. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  4. ^ a b "ARTISTdirect's Exclusive Interview With Rihanna!". Artistdirect. May 12, 2006. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Rihanna Interview". Kidzworld. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Birchmeier, Jason. Review: Music of the Sun. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Birchmeier, Jason. "allmusic ((( Music of the Sun Overview )))". Allmusic. Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  8. ^ Tecson, Brandee J. (August 19, 2005). "Rihanna Insists She's Got What You Need In 'Pon De Replay' Follow-Up". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2008-06-21. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Jeckell, Barry (2005-09-01). "Mariah Matches Hot 100 Milestone". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  10. ^ Montgomery, James (August 18, 2005). "Rihanna, Fall Out Boy, Mike Jones To Play During VMA Pre-Show". MTV News. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  11. ^ "2005 NFL Kickoff Concert". photofeatures.com. Retrieved on 2009-08-07.
  12. ^ Gordon, Zahra (November 12, 2005). "Silver Chips Online: Rihanna performs at free concert in City Place Mall". Silver Chips Online. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  13. ^ Faraone, Chris. "Review: Music of the Sun". Boston Herald: E.08. September 2, 2005.
  14. ^ Taffo, Livia Orsini. Review: Music of the Sun. Canal Pop. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  15. ^ Serpick, Evan. Review: Music of the Sun. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  16. ^ Jenoure, Chantel. Review: Music of the Sun. The Jamaica Observer. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  17. ^ Aquilante, Dan. "Review: Music of the Sun". New York Post: 087. August 28, 2005.
  18. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa. Review: Music of the Sun. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  19. ^ Colle, Liam. Review: Music of the Sun. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  20. ^ Walters, Barry. Review: Music of the Sun. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  21. ^ Cinquemani, Sal. Review: Music of the Sun. Slant Magazine. Retrieved on 2009-11-28.
  22. ^ Barry, Walters (2005-09-08). "Rihanna: Music of the Sun". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  23. ^ a b Cinquemani, Sal (August 31, 2005). "Rihanna: Music Of The Sun". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2009-05-29. {{cite news}}: Text "Music Review" ignored (help); Text "Slant Magazine" ignored (help)
  24. ^ "West 'Registers' No. 1 Album Debut". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2005-08-24. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
  25. ^ "Gold & Platinum American Certifications Database: "Rihanna"". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
  26. ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-rating-rihanna-1004105967.story?tag=hpfeed
  27. ^ "Gold & Platinum: December 2005". Canadian Recording Industry Association. 2005. Retrieved February 14, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  28. ^ "Rihanna, Music of the Sun, Gold". British Phonographic Industry. May 12, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
  29. ^ http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20051020-0000/issue814.pdf
  30. ^ CRIA Gold/Platinum Certifications
  31. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2005年10月". RIAJ (in Japanese). 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  32. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2010-06-13. (subscription only)
  33. ^ [1]
  34. ^ "hmv.com: music: Music Of The Sun". HMV (UK). Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  35. ^ "Music Of The Sun: Rihanna". Amazon.ca. August 30, 2005. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  36. ^ "Rihanna - Music Of The Sun Germany". Plattenladen. September 5, 2005. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
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