text: music of the sun music of the sun is the debut studio album by barbadian singer rihanna . it was released by def jam recordings on august 30 , 2005 . prior to signing with def jam , rihanna was discovered by record producer evan rogers in barbados , who helped rihanna record demo tapes to send out to several record labels . jay - z , the former chief executive officer ( ceo ) and president of def jam , was given rihanna 's demo by jay brown , his a & r at def jam , and invited her to audition for the label after hearing what turned out to be her first single , " pon de replay " . she auditioned for jay - z and l.a. reid , the former ceo and president of record label group the island def jam music group , and was signed on the spot to prevent her from signing with another record label . after rihanna was signed by jay - z , she continued to work with rogers and his production partner carl sturken , as well as other music producers such as , poke & tone , d. " supa dups " chin - quee , and stargate . music of the sun features vocals from canadian rapper kardinal offishall , music group j - status , and jamaican singer vybz kartel . its music incorporates caribbean music such as dancehall and reggae , as well as dance - pop and r & b ballads . music of the sun received generally mixed reviews from music critics , who complimented its dancehall and caribbean - inspired songs , while others criticized some of the production . the album debuted at number 10 on the united states billboard 200 and number six on the top r & b / hip - hop albums chart . the album peaked in the top - 40 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 dance club songs chart . music of the sun was certified gold by the recording industry association of america ( riaa ) , denoting shipments of over 500 , 000 copies . background before signing to def jam recordings , rihanna was discovered in her home country barbados by american record producer evan rogers . the two met in december 2003 through mutual friends of rihanna 's and rogers ' wife , while the couple was on vacation in barbados , because of how rihanna 's friend had told rogers ' wife how the aspiring singer was always singing and performing . after meeting for the first time , rogers ' asked rihanna to come to his hotel room , where she performed renditions of destiny 's child 's " emotion " and mariah carey 's " hero " . rihanna 's renditions impressed rogers , who then took her to new york , where she was accompanied by her mother to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels . she recorded the demo over the next year intermittently , due to rihanna only being able to record during school holidays . at the age of 16 , rihanna was signed to rogers ' and carl sturken 's production company , syndicated rhythm productions , who assigned her a lawyer and manager , before the completed demo tape were distributed to various record labels around the world in late 2004 . the first to respond to the demo tape was jay - z , who had recently been appointed as president and ceo of def jam recordings . rihanna auditioned for him and music mogul l.a. reid , in his office . looking back on the audition and meeting jay - z , rihanna explained in an interview how she felt before walking into the room , saying : " that 's when i really got nervous ..... i was like : ' oh god , he 's right there , i can 't look , i can 't look , i can 't look ! ' i remember being extremely quiet . i was very shy . i was cold the entire time . i had butterflies . i 'm sitting across from jay - z. like , jay - zee . i was star - struck . " during the audition , rihanna performed whitney houston 's cover of " for the love of you " , as well as " pon de replay " and " the last time " , which were written and produced by rogers and sturken and would be included on her debut album music of the sun . jay - z was initially skeptical about signing rihanna after he felt " pon de replay " was too big for her , saying " when a song is that big , it 's hard [ for a new artist ] to come back from . i don 't sign songs , i sign artists " . the audition resulted in rihanna signing a six - album record deal with def jam recordings in february 2005 , on the same day of the audition , with jay - z saying " there 's only two ways out . out the door after you sign this deal . or through this window ... " , meaning that he was not going to let her leave without signing a record deal . after signing to def jam recordings , rihanna cancelled other meetings with record labels and relocated from barbados to new york to live with rogers ' and his wife . rihanna explained the concept behind the title of the album to kidzworld , saying that the sun is representative of the her native caribbean culture as well as herself and that the album consists of music from her heritage . recording and composition rihanna worked with various producers for music of the sun and continued to work with rogers and sturken , who had previously written and produced " pon de replay " and " the last time " for rihanna 's demo tape . although rihanna stated that when she first heard " pon de replay " , she did not want to record it , expressing that she felt the song was " sing - songy " , but grew to like the song at the end of the recording process . in an interview with kidzworld , rihanna explained how the pair helped her develop her song - writing abilities , saying rogers and sturken , who had worked with recording artists including britney spears , christina aguilera and kelly clarkson . music of the sun is a caribbean - influenced , urban dance - pop album . its dance - pop songs are complemented by r & b ballads . the lead single " pon de replay " was written by rogers , sturken and vada nobles , and was produced by the first two . " pon de replay " is a simple dance - pop song with dancehall beats and reggae vocal cadence . lyrically , the song is about asking the dj to play the protagonist 's favorite song , as well as the fulfillment of dancing in a club . " the last time " , written and produced by rogers and sturken is an acoustic guitar driven ballad , while " now that i know " is a stripped down string driven song . in addition to working with rogers and sturken for the majority of the album , rihanna worked with production teams poke & tone of trackmasters and stargate . the former wrote and produced the second single released from the album , " if it 's lovin ' that you want " , which rihanna described as a " fun song " . an r & b song , " if it 's lovin ' that you want " is a song about a girl telling a boy that he should make her his girl , because she has what the boy wants . a remix of the song entitled " if it 's lovin ' that you want – part 2 " , which features rap vocals by cory gunz , was included as a bonus track on rihanna 's sophomore album , a girl like me ( 2006 ) . alongside rogers and sturken , stargate co - wrote and co - produced " let me " , which appears as the ninth song on the album . music of the sun contains a remake of jamaican singer dawn penn 's " you don 't love me ( no , no , no ) " , and features dancehall recording artist vybz kartel . critical reception music of the sun received generally mixed reviews from music critics . kelefa sanneh of the new york times viewed that the album 's combination of dancehall and pop resulted in " [ pon de replay being ] one [ of ] the summer 's biggest and most seductive club tracks " , but felt that rihanna sounds " stranded " without a beat to sing along to . barry walters of rolling stone found it lacking in replay value , ingenuity , and rhythm of the single with " generic vocal hiccups and frills " of us r & b inflecting upon her " caribbean charm " . sal cinquemani of slant magazine called the album a " glut of teen r & b " and described the lead single " pon de replay " as " a dancehall - pop mixture that owes plenty of its sweat and shimmy to beyoncé knowles ' " baby boy " . evan serpick of entertainment weekly wrote that rihanna 's " vibrant vocals lift tracks like ' that la la la ' and ' let me , ' but this bland dancehall / r & b debut is filled with chintzy production and maudlin arrangements that block out the music of the sun . " robert christgau of the village voice rated the album a " dud " , indicating " a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought . " in a positive review , jason birchmeier of allmusic commented that the album presents rihanna as " winsome rather than [ a ] wannabe , " as well as how she managed to set herself apart from other urban dance - pop artists such as ashanti , beyoncé , and ciara . birchmeier further stated that " 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 . " chantal of the jamaica observer complimented the dancehall and hip hop composition on several of the songs , including " pon de replay " , " rush " , " let me " , " music of the sun " and " that la la la " , writing that they make the listener feel " happy " and " carefree " . commercial performance in the united states , music of the sun sold 69 , 000 and debuted at number 10 on the billboard 200 album chart in the chart issue dated september 17 , 2005 . the album spent a total of 35 weeks on the chart . music of the sun debuted on the us top r & b / hip - hop albums chart at number six in the same chart issue , and spent a total of 44 weeks on the chart . after five months of release , the album was certified gold by the recording industry association of america ( riaa ) on january 1 , 2006 , denoting shipments of over 500 , 000 copies . as of november 2013 , the album had sold 609 , 000 copies in the united states . in canada , music of the sun debuted and peaked at number seven on the canadian albums chart in the chart issue september 17 , 2005 , but dropped out of the top ten the following week . after four months of release , the album was certified platinum by music canada for shipments of over 100 , 000 copies . outside of the united states and canada , music of the sun failed to achieve a comparable level of chart success . in the united kingdom , the album debuted and peaked at number 35 on the uk albums chart in the chart issue october 10 , 2005 . in its second week charting , music of the sun fell by three positions to number 38 , and dropped out of the official uk top 40 the following week . on may 12 , 2006 , the album was certified gold by the british phonographic industry ( bpi ) denoting shipments of over 100 , 000 copies . elsewhere in europe , the album debuted on the swiss albums chart at number 46 in the chart issue september 11 , 2005 , and peaked at number 38 four weeks later . in austria , music of the sun debuted on the austrian albums chart at number 61 in the chart issue september 18 , 2005 , and peaked at number 45 the following week . the album debuted and peaked at number 93 on the french albums chart in the chart issue september 24 , 2005 . in the netherlands , music of the sun debuted and peaked at number 98 on the dutch albums chart in the chart issue april 29 , 2006 , and spent one week on the chart . in new zealand , the album debuted on the new zealand albums chart at number 40 in the chart issue september 26 , 2005 . between september 29 and october 10 , 2005 , music of the sun dropped out of the top - 40 albums chart , but made a re - entry at number 40 on october 10 , 2005 . in its fourth week charting , the album peaked at number 26 . singles " pon de replay " was released as the album 's lead single on may 24 , 2005 . the song peaked at number one on the new zealand singles chart and number two on the us billboard hot 100 chart and uk singles chart . an accompanying music video was directed by little x and features rihanna in a club environment . " if it 's lovin ' that you want " was released as the second and final single from music of the sun on december 2 , 2005 . the song failed to replicate the chart success which " pon de replay " experienced , peaking at number 36 on the us billboard hot 100 chart and inside the top forty of multiple other charts . an accompanying music video was directed by marcus raboy and features rihanna in a beach setting . track listings notes ^ a denotes a co - producer ^ b denotes a vocal producer personnel credits for music of the sun are adapted from allmusic . musicians production johnny mixed by charts certifications release history