A Girl Like Me (Rihanna album)

Rihanna released her debut album Music of the Sun in August 2005. An R&B album, Music of the Sun incorporated musical elements of dance-pop and Caribbean music genres such as dancehall and reggae. and peaked in the top-forty of album charts in Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It produced two singles: "Pon de Replay" and "If It's Lovin' that You Want", the former of which peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart. When discussing the conception for her second studio album with L.A. Reid—Chairman and CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group—Rihanna talked about experimenting with different music by incorporating some rock on the album. In February 2006, Rihanna announced that she was going to release her second studio album in April 2006 under the name A Girl Like Me. When asked about the album in an interview with MTV News, Rihanna stated: "Vocally I've matured so much, and lyrically I'm speaking about stuff I would never sing about [before]. Now I'm singing about experiences that I've gone through and stuff that other 18-year-old girls go through, so it's all about progression." In regards to the title of the album, Rihanna explained: "It's called A Girl Like Me because it's a very personal album, it's my baby. It's all about what it's like to be a girl like me, speaking of personal experiences as well as things that girls like me have gone through." ==Recording==

" was originally intended for Christina Milian's third studio album ''So Amazin''', but she ultimately turned it down. For writing and production of A Girl Like Me Rihanna teamed up once again with record producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, who produced most of the tracks on her previous album, J. R. Rotem and Norwegian production duo Stargate. While recording the track "If It's Lovin' That You Want" for her debut album, Rihanna received a visit from American singer Ne-Yo, in which they met for the first time, although they never got the chance to collaborate on Music of the Sun. When production started, she came up with the idea of working with Ne-Yo. When asked about collaborating with Ne-Yo, Rihanna stated: "We never got around to it on the first album. So for the second album, I was like, 'You know what? I have to work with that guy Ne-Yo.' And it made it a lot easier because he's on the same label I am." L.A. Reid had Rihanna in mind as the next artist to record the song. The song was recorded within three days and eventually later released as the lead single from A Girl Like Me. The song was written and recorded in her native Barbados, and was described by Rihanna as mixed with rock and reggae. For the song "Break It Off", which features Jamaican artist Sean Paul, Rihanna flew down to Jamaica to record the song. The song was written by Donovan Bennet and it was co-written by Sean Paul and Rihanna herself. The album's closing tracks were written by Rogers, Sturken and Rihanna, who co-wrote the album's title track "A Girl Like Me". Rogers and Sturken produced and wrote eight of the album's 16 tracks. ==Music and lyrics==

Musically, A Girl Like Me reveals new types of musical genres compared to Rihanna's light and uptempo debut effort, Music of the Sun. The new effort also presents Rihanna's new side with some balladic elements. In an interview, Rihanna commented: "Growing up in Barbados, I wasn't exposed to a lot of rock music. We really love reggae and soca music and hip-hop. But when I moved to the United States last year, I was exposed to a lot of different types of music, rock being one of them, and I fell in love with it. [Now] I love rock music." "Kisses Don't Lie" talks about a girl who's in love with a guy but is stuck between an ultimatum because she's afraid of getting hurt. "Unfaithful" documents the decay of a relationship when another person starts cheating. The lyrics of "Dem Haters" portray a message about how "haters" try to bring people down and recommends excluding them from your life. "Final Goodbye" talks about a woman who wants to spend the rest of her life with a man but feels that she needs to reveal a secret before moving on. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" continues the theme of love in a similar vein to "SOS", however, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" portrays a message about being in love, whereas "SOS" talks about having an overwhelming feeling towards a guy. ==Songs==

co-wrote and provided vocals on "Break It Off". The album's opening track "SOS" is an uptempo dance song incorporating the key section, bass line, and drum beat of the 1981 recording of "Tainted Love" as performed by Soft Cell, although "SOS" contains a more dance-oriented beat to create a soulful anthem of young love. The song also features three different music videos, including two promotional music videos for Agent Provocateur and Nike, and the official music video, which was directed by Chris Applebaum. "Kisses Don't Lie", the album's second song, uses a mixture of Caribbean elements and electric guitar together with a mesmerizing bassline. The song is the third track and the second single from the album, and was written by labelmate and fellow R&B musician Ne-Yo. Despite its strong chart performance, the song was panned by critics, who stated that "Rihanna's voice [on the song was] not particularly strong." The fourth track, "We Ride", features gently strummed acoustic guitar, with production handled by Stargate. The song received mixed reviews from critics and was less successful than the other singles. In the song's music video, directed by Anthony Mandler, Rihanna was featured hanging with her friends and scenes of her at the beach. After the song failed to chart in the United States, the song became the last single from the album to feature a music video. "Dem Haters" features guest vocals by Barbadian singer Dwane Husbands. The song is the album's fifth track and was produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers. The sixth track, "Final Goodbye", is a mid-tempo ballad containing ambient of strummed acoustic guitar. The seventh track, and the album's fourth and final single, "Break It Off", is a collaboration with Jamaican recording artist Sean Paul. The song contains dancehall influence. Although "Break It Off" did not feature a music video for its promotion, it still managed to reach the top ten in the singles charts in the United States, in ironic contrast to "We Ride", which did count with the support of an official music video. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", the album's eighth track, is another collaboration song featuring Jamaican music group J-Status. The Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers-produced "Selfish Girl", is the ninth song of the album and contains reggae elements. The tenth track, "P.S. (I'm Still Not Over You)", is an R&B song also produced by Sturken and Rogers. "A Girl Like Me", the album's eleventh song and title track, is another R&B song also containing reggae elements. The album's third ballad, "A Million Miles Away", is the twelfth song on the album. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who commented that the song "kills whatever momentum the album has." The closing track on the standard version of the album is a remix serving as a sequel to "If It's Lovin' That You Want", which was Rihanna's second single from her debut album. The track, titled "If It's Lovin' That You Want - Part 2", features American rapper Corey Gunz. ==Singles==

"SOS" was released as the album's lead single on February 14, 2006, and as a physical maxi single on March 27, 2006. The maxi single included both the radio edit and instrumental versions of "SOS", as well as the album track "Break It Off", which features Jamaican reggae singer Sean Paul. of "Tainted Love", which was originally written by Ed Cobb in 1965 and popularized by English synthpop duo Soft Cell, when they released their cover version in 1981. It received positive reviews from music critics, especially for its energy and Rihanna's vocal performance. and became the singer's first number one single on the chart. It also peaked at number one on the US Hot Dance Club Play and Pop Songs charts, as well as number two on the UK Singles Chart. Two music videos, an official version and a Nike promotional version, were directed by Chris Applebaum. "Unfaithful" was released as the second single from A Girl Like Me on May 2, 2006. Written by American singer Ne-Yo and Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen of Stargate, the song was originally titled "Murderer" and was inspired by the works of American rock band Evanescence. It garnered a mixed response from critics; many praised its powerful balladry, but some criticized the lyrics. The single peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Anthony Mandler, and features Rihanna in a love triangle in which she struggles to choose between her husband and her romantic interest, and regrets having cheated on the former. Rihanna performed the song at the 2006 MOBO Awards and it has been included on the set lists of her concert tours, the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–09), the Last Girl on Earth (2010–11) and the Loud Tour (2011). "We Ride" was released as the third single from the album; the song was sent to US mainstream and rhythmic radio stations on August 21, 2006. It was written by Makeba Riddick, Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen, while production of the song was handled by Eriksen and Hermansen under their production team name, StarGate. "We Ride" was well received by critics, many of whom praised it as a good cruising song. It failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, but managed to top the US Hot Dance Club Play chart and peaked at number 34 on the US Pop Songs chart. It failed to match the success of the album's previous singles, though peaking within the top twenty of the singles charts in Ireland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Its accompanying music video was also directed by Anthony Mandler, who had previously directed the music video for "Unfaithful". According to Rihanna, the video for "We Ride" is not as "out there" as the videos for "SOS" and "Unfaithful" were, as she wanted to do something less provocative to re-connect with people her own age. The song was written by Donovan Bennett, Sean Paul, K. Ford and Rihanna, and it was recorded in Jamaica, where Rihanna joined Paul on vacation. "Break It Off" managed to attain chart success, in contrast to previous single "We Ride", and peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the US Pop Songs chart. Aside from the US charting, the only singles chart the song made an appearance on was in Belgium, where it attained a peak position of number 10. No music video for the song was shot, although Rihanna performed the song at the Radio One Big Weekend in 2007, after her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad had been released, and performed "Break It Off" as part of the set list with other songs from all three of her albums up to that point. The song was also included on the setlist of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–09). The song prompted a mixed reaction from critics; Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters praised "A Girl Like Me", writing that the song is "refreshingly unpretentious" compared to "Unfaithful", which Huff labelled as "overboard with melodrama." However, Celia San Miguel of Vibe magazine criticized the song, and called it a "stumble" on the album and a "yawn-inducing slow jam." "A Million Miles Away" was also written by Rogers and Sturken, and peaked at number 38 on the Spanish Singles Chart. Huff wrote that the song, along with "Unfaithful", was not as good as the album's sixth track, "Final Goodbye". ==Promotion==

, December 2006 During the recording process of A Girl Like Me, Rihanna served as the opening act for Gwen Stefani during the Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005 in Japan to promote Music of the Sun. The album was released only eight months after Music of the Sun had been released. Aside from the original track listing, the new edition features a bonus CD containing leftover tracks from A Girl Like Me and Music of the Sun. She also recorded songs for advertising the Happy fragrance by Clinique and deodorant Secret of the company Procter & Gamble. Live performances Rihanna performed the album's lead single "SOS" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on February 20, 2006, and at the 2006 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 18, 2006. Rihanna then performed her single "Unfaithful" on AOL Music, where Rihanna recorded her first Sessions@AOL broadcast, among other content exclusive to AOL members. On July 27, 2006, she performed "SOS" and "Unfaithful" on the MTV series Total Request Live. On September 20, 2006, Rihanna opened the 2006 MOBO Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London with a performance of "Unfaithful". On November 2, 2006, Rihanna performed "SOS" live at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards held in Copenhagen, Denmark. On November 15, 2006, Rihanna performed "Unfaithful" at the 2006 World Music Awards, which also took place in London. On November 22, 2006, Rihanna performed "SOS" and "Unfaithful" on the Australian morning show Sunrise. Tour Rihanna further promoted A Girl Like Me through her debut concert tour, the Rihanna: Live in Concert. Taking place during the summer of 2006, the tour also supported her debut studio album Music of the Sun and traveled across North America. ==Critical reception==

A Girl Like Me received generally mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. Dan Charnas of The Washington Post observed a "much broader musical palette than the wannabe-yoncés" and stated: "Sophomore slump avoided, Rihanna actually digs into some ambitious pop ballads". David Jeffries of AllMusic commented: "Versatile urban dance-pop singer Rihanna gracefully avoids the sophomore slump with A Girl like Me, a less tropical-flavored, more urban effort than her sun-and-fun debut." Jeffries compared the track "Kisses Don't Lie" to Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock" and commented that "the album gets bolder and seamlessly bounces from genre to genre... Rihanna goes from a film noir song that elegantly uses murder as a metaphor for cheating ("Unfaithful") to an easy-flowing weekend cruiser ("We Ride")." In a negative review, Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that apart from "SOS", "Unfaithful", and "Break It Off", "this scattershot album is full of duds". Barry Walters of Rolling Stone felt that the album "doesn't deliver anything else as ingenious as its lead single: Lightweight dancehall and R&B jams lack the single's ear-bending boldness. But the burning rock guitar of "Kisses Don't Lie" and haunted strings of "Unfaithful" help make A Girl Like Me much more likable." indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought." ==Commercial performance==

A Girl Like Me debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, selling 115,000 copies in its first week, nearly twice the debut sales of Rihanna's debut album Music of the Sun, which sold 69,000 copies in its first week. The album has since been certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. The album debuted at number six in Ireland on the Irish Albums Chart. A Girl Like Me was later certified 2× Platinum by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). It also debuted at number six in the United Kingdom on the UK Albums Chart with sales of 24,000 copies on the issue dated April 24, 2006. The album reached its peak of number five in July 2006 due to the popularity of the single "Unfaithful" and it has so far sold almost 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In Europe, the album achieved a Platinum certification, granted by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. In Canada, the album topped the Canadian Albums Chart, becoming Rihanna's first number-one album in the country, and was later certified Platinum there. In Australia, the album debuted at number 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album later reached the number nine position and remained on the chart for twenty-one weeks. In Switzerland, A Girl Like Me peaked at number six and remained there position for two consecutive weeks and charted for 39 weeks. In Belgium, A Girl Like Me debuted at number 45 on the Belgian Albums Chart in April 2006. The album further climbed up the chart and reached the chart's top 10 by peaking at number 10. ==Track listing==

Notes • denotes a vocal producer • denotes a co-producer • denotes a remixer • "SOS" contains excerpts from the composition "Tainted Love" (1981), written by Ed Cobb and performed by Soft Cell. "Tainted Love" was originally performed by Gloria Jones. • The bonus track "If It's Lovin' That You Want – Part 2" contains interpolations from the composition "The Bridge Is Over", written by Scott La Rock and Lawrence Parker. • The bonus track "If It's Lovin' That You Want – Part 2" was not included in the 2016 Vinyl Box Set and later re-releases. • The International edition features the bonus track "Pon de Replay" (Full Phatt Remix). • The Germany limited deluxe edition bonus disc includes the two Japanese bonus tracks of Music of the Sun and A Girl Like Me, "Unfaithful" (Nu Soul Remix), and the music videos of "Unfaithful" and "SOS". ==Personnel==

Credits for A Girl Like Me adapted from liner notes. Musicians • Rihanna – lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (tracks 1–2, 4–6, 8–11) • Evan Rogers – backing vocals (tracks 1–2, 5) • Mikkel S. Ericksen – multi-instrumentalist (track 4) • Sue Pray – viola (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Donovan "Vendetta" Bennett – multi-instrumentalist (track 7) • Ann Leathers – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Andy Bassford – guitar (track 9) • Yuri Vodovoz – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • John Beal – double bass (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Jill Jaffe – viola (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Luke McMaster;– guitar (track 6) • Eugene Briskin – cello (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Kevin Batchelor – trumpet (track 9) • Yana Goichman – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Clark Gayton – trombone (track 9) • Marti Sweet – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Richard Locker – cello (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Tor Erik Hermansen – multi-instrumentalist (track 4) • Maura Giannini – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Carl Sturken – guitar (track 12), piano (12), keyboards (6, 9), drum machine (9), multi-instruments (2, 8, 10–11) • Ted Hemberger – percussion (track 12) • Abe Appleman – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Cenovia Cummins – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Jeanne Ingram – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Jan Mullen – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Gene Moye – cello (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Crystal Garner – viola (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Richard Sortomme – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Katherine LiVolsi Stern – violin (tracks 3, 6, 12) Production • Carl Sturken – music producer (tracks 2, 6, 8–12), executive producer, vocal producer (1, 4–5) • Evan Rogers – record producer (tracks 2, 6, 8–12), executive producer, vocal producer (1, 4–5) • The Carter Administration – executive producer • Augustus "Gussie" Clarke – record producer (track 8) • Don Corleon – record producer (track 7) • Poke & Tone – record producer (track 13) • Mike City – music producer, audio mixer (track 5) • James Auwarter – recording engineer (track 4) • Donovan "Vendetta" Bennett – recording engineer, audio mixer (track 7) • Dawn Boonyachlito – stylist, wardrobe • Jay Brown – A&R • Andrea Derby – production coordination • Rob Heselden – production assistant • Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen – music producer (tracks 3–4, 13), recording engineer (3–4), remixing (13) • Chris Gehringer mastering • Franny "Franchise" Graham – recording engineer (track 5) • Jeremy Harding – recording engineer (track 7) • Al Hemberger – recording engineer (tracks 1–6, 8–12), audio mixer (2, 5–6, 8–12) • Patrick Viala – mixer • Doug Joswick – package production • Ann Leathers – concert master (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Debbie Mounsey – production assistant (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Rob Mounsey – conductor, string arrangements (tracks 3, 6, 12) • Adrienne Muhammad – A&R • Malcolm Pollack – recording engineer (track 3) • Makeba Riddick – vocal producer (track 3) • J.R. Rotem – music producer, recording engineer (track 1) • Tippi Shorter – hair stylist • Rob Skipworth – audio mixing assistant (track 1) • Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith – A&R • Phil Tan – audio mixer (tracks 1, 3–4) • Tiger Stylz – recording engineer (track 3) • Nichell Delvaille – photography, art coordinator • Tracey Waples – marketing • Alli Truch – art direction • Tony Duran – photography • Valerie Wagner – design ==Accolades==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==