How Rihanna Left Abusive Home & Signed Contract of Her Dreams With Jay-Z at Only 16: “I Had Butterflies”
In the winter of 2003, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, at 15 years old, was desperate to leave her abusive family. While he and his wife were on holiday in Barbados, she was able to get an audition with record producer Evan Rogers, author John Seabrooks wrote, per Business Insider.
Recalling the moment the future superstar Rihanna walked in, Rogers told the publication, "I said to myself, 'If that girl can sing," then - holy shit! She had such a presence! Her makeup was perfect, and she had these capri pants and matching sneakers, with her green eyes and her long supermodel neck."
The then-teenager Rihanna informed Rogers during their encounter that working in the music industry is "all I've ever wanted to do." Robyn had no professional training in dance or music. Rihanna, like Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson, was desperate to get away from her occasionally harsh upbringing.
"It was more likely a much more urgent need to escape from the anxieties of a violent home life into the illusion of security and boundless love that a life onstage seemed to offer. That desire, more than any inborn talent, is what fans will connect to, and that is what record men look for in a new artist. It's the one thing they can't manufacture," Seabrooks wrote of the hit machine.
Rihanna had a temporary disability as a child as a result of growing up in an abusive household.
— Ola Ojewumi (@Olas_Truth) January 15, 2020
She had debilitating migraines so painful that she had many medical tests and CT scans to find the root cause. When her parents divorced, her headaches instantly went away. https://t.co/65IC2GGn0x
Rihanna has previously opened up about the abuse her mother had to endure. Her father was a very violent man, per NBC, and he used to beat her mother. When they got into a disagreement, she would try to mediate and once smashed a glass bottle "so they would hear something else." After one particularly nasty fight, Rihanna's mother refused even to get her broken nose fixed at the hospital. "Domestic violence is not somebody that people want anybody to know, so she would just hide it in the house," Rihanna said.
Rogers thought that Rihanna won't be able to sing, "because usually, it's the pretty ones who can't," Seabrook wrote. But she proved him wrong, and how. "The whole time I'm thinking, 'OK I have to have a follow-up meeting with this one,'" Rogers told Seabrook.
Rihanna is SELFMADE B. 16 year old immigrant, no rich family, no dad to help, guide nor train, no industry contacts. Signed to Rock Nation, but she was paying for everything, no budget was allocated for her 1st 4 albums. Nothing was handed to her. Her mom had to send food money. pic.twitter.com/sShYrOl7QM
— RihannaImpact (@rihanna_impact) June 3, 2023
Pon de Replay, a Caribbean anthem, was recorded by Rihanna in December 2004. She was flown to meet Jay-Z and a few other label executives after the demo was forwarded Discussesto Jay-Z when it arrived at Def Jam.
Jay-Z was so smitten with the song that he wouldn't allow her to leave the building until she signed a contract with him. "I was very shy ... I was cold the entire time. I had butterflies. I'm sitting across from Jay-Z. Like, Jay-Z," she would later say in a 2007 interview with the Observer, according to Seabrook. While the attorneys sorted out the specifics, they stayed there until three in the morning. Later on, the Fenty owner remembered Jay-Z stating, "There are only two ways out." If she accepted the deal, 'out the door'; if not, 'through this window'.
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