Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad

Rihanna went into the studio in early 2007 with Ne-Yo, Stargate, and Timbaland among others to record her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad. The album was released on June 5, 2007. It features Jay-Z and Ne-Yo as featured artists.

The first single, "Umbrella", featuring Jay-Z, was released on March 29, 2007, reaching number one in various countries, including the U.S. "Umbrella" was the #1 single in the UK for 10 consecutive weeks. It was the longest running #1 single since "Wet Wet Wet's" single "Love Is All Around", back in 1994, and the longest running #1 by a female artist since Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which also topped the chart for 10 weeks in 1992. It was produced by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash. Umbrella was set at #2 at the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart, behind Beyoncé's Irreplaceable. However, Umbrella is the most succesful song of 2007, getting 8,160,000 points on the United World Chart.

The second single, "Shut Up and Drive", was sent to radio stations on June 5, has so far peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her club airplay third single, "Don't Stop The Music" was premiered on BET's 106 & Park on July 20, 2007 and was released only in Canada. The song is also going to be released in the UK. However, the single was also released in parts of Europe, where it was a huge succes. The song peaked at #1 in countrys like Germany, France, The Netherlands and Austria. The song has so far reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the United World Chart.

The fourth single, "Hate That I Love You" featuring Ne-Yo, was released on August 21, and so far has peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Rihanna her sixth top ten hit.

The fifth single will be "Breakin' Dishes" according to Billboard and has so far peaked on #11 on the Hot Dance Club Play. However due to the high surge in airplay and digital sales of "Don't Stop the Music", which was never released in the US, it might be replacing Breakin' Dishes as the next single.

Rihanna worked with Timbaland on three songs in the album. Justin Timberlake co-wrote and provides background vocals on "Rehab" and "Sell Me Candy". In interviews, many have questioned the meaning and reasoning of the album title. The album title reflects the difference between the old and new Rihanna. "Bad means cool, bad means funky, bad means having an attitude, bad means being edgy. This album is definitely a great representation of who I am now, and where I am in my career," she says. Seven weeks after the album was released, it had gone platinum in the United States and 3x Platinum on the United World Albums Chart.

Also in 2007, Rihanna won World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist & Entertainer of the Year at the 2007 World Music Awards. On November 18, 2007, she won Favorite Female Artist - Soul/R&B at the 2007 American Music Awards.Rihanna's hit song Shut Up and Drive won best R&B song at the 2008 People's Choice Award.

Starting September 12, 2007, Rihanna toured Canada and the United States in support of the album with several shows and then crossed to Europe. It is called the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour which will be released on DVD in early 2008 and feature the show performed at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 6th December 2007.

Rihanna received six Grammy Awards nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (for "Umbrella"), Best R&B Song, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (for "Hate That I Love You") as well as Best Dance Recording (for "Don't Stop the Music").

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