It might not come as a surprise to many that the pop music charts are often ruled as much by catchy songs with great dance rhythms and slick production as they are by talented singers and musicians. That's the case here, as Rihanna isn't a great singer: she doesn't have powerful chops, she's not a distinctive stylist, she's not innovative, and if she has a unique personality, it doesn't display itself on record. Two things she's got going for her, though, are--as far as I'm concerned--are as equally important as those traits she lacks. One, she recognizes her vocal limits, meaning she doesn't oversing, letting her voice serve the song rather than letting the song serve her voice. Two, she (or her manager or someone from her record company, but--especially at this current stage of her career--it's most likely her) knows a great track when she hears one. And "Pon de Replay" (she didn't write it) is a great track.It's catchy as all get out; the production is appropriately high and tight, allowing the synths and the hi-hat and the handclaps and the deep bass/kick/808 (or whatever it is that keeps the beat on the one) to pop; and doggone but that's a great beat, reminiscent of late drummer Earl Palmer's seminal sounds on Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" (one of the ten greatest opening drum beats in pop/rock/rap/soul history). Cark Sturken and Evan Rogers produced (and co-wrote) this one, and they've been in the business for twenty years now, and they've never created anything this snazzy. Don't know what got into 'em. Maybe it was Rihanna. Could be. Cause though it was Sturken & Rogers who wrote that "Run-run-Run-run" part of the verse, but it was Rihanna's Barbadian accent and cadence that makes it sing like nobody's business.
Rihanna - Pon de Replay
by Rihanna
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