How Jay-Z made Rihanna cry after a classic song flopped
When thinking of musicians who have transcended the industry to become business moguls, two names stand out: Jay Z and Rihanna. The former with his thriving entertainment company Roc Nation in addition to his streaming service Tidal, amongst other lucrative investments, and the latter with her beauty brand Fenty and the subsequent creation of Fenty as a fashion label under the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) banner. Over the last 20 years, the two have revolutionised what a musician is capable of beyond songs and streams.
While Hov came from a more traditional hub of music production in New York City, Rihanna came from more remote beginnings in Saint Michael, Barbados, where she was known by her full name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty. In 2005, at the tender age of 17, Robyn found herself bursting on to the scene with her now iconic dancehall track ‘Pon de Replay’, the title of which in Bajan Creole, the primary language spoken in Barbados, translates to ‘play it again’.
With a pop-like twist on traditional dancehall rhythms, the track, along with ‘The Last Time’ were shipped on a demo tape to record labels in the hope of landing a deal. The Caribbean teenager would eventually be signed to Jay Z’s Def Jam records, with ‘Pon De Replay; featuring as the first track on Rihanna’s debut album Music of the Sun.
Looking at Rihanna’s success since the release of that first album and her subsequent hits, it may appear that she took that first contract and never looked back. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
In an interview with Vulture, Evan Rogers, songwriter-producer and co-founder of Syndicated Rhythm Production, recounted a time when the singer was distraught about the possibility of not succeeding, remarking: “’Pon de Replay’ was looked at as a novelty hit, and when the album came out it did not sell well in the first week. There were moments when the second single, ‘If It’s Lovin’ That You Want,’ wasn’t really popping.”
Rogers continued: “I remember we had a meeting with Jay-Z at his Four Seasons hotel suite out in Beverly Hills. He called us because Rihanna had been acting up a little bit. He brought her back down to earth and pointed out this could all be over in a minute. She teared up; it was some real tough love.”
He elaborated further: We were sitting in a parking lot in New York after a dance rehearsal and reassuring her. She was like, ‘But what would happen? Will they drop me?’ We went through a very scary period [putting together her next album]. But Jay Brown (former Executive Vice President of Roc Nation) and L.A. Reid (CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group) called up and said, ‘We want Rihanna to record this song ‘SOS’. We were like, ‘Well that’s pop. But what about her Caribbean sound?’ L.A.’s words were: ‘Fuck that. Make them dance. She’s Madonna.'”
As Rihanna would go on to produce hits such ‘What’s My Name,’ ‘We Found Love,’ ‘Diamonds,’ and ‘Umbrella’ among many more beloved tracks, it’s safe to say that instance of tough love from a fellow musical icon was transformational rather than traumatic.