Long-time superstar Rihanna has been recording smash hits for years now, while becoming one of the most beloved divas in the pop music world. She's been instrumental in overhauling the R&B genre, crafting the new sound that has wedded hip-hop, electronic dance music, and traditional gospel-style R&B in a way that has blurred the lines between them all. The Grammys commmittee (behind the times as always) has been so befuddled by this new genre that they've been forced to create a makeshift new category ("Urban Contemporary" - whatever that means) to attempt to address it at the awards. Rihanna's rhythmic island-inflected singing is truly hip-hop, both in attitude and delivery. Listeners have responded with overwhelming positivity - few artists can boast as many huge hits in the last decade as she can.

2016 was a particularly triumphant year for her, however, in that for the first time, she dropped an album that transcended smash hit singles, a cohesive work that was experimental while still bringing the classic Rihanna super-tracks everyone loves. The freeing of artists from record label pressure in the online streaming era has resulted in a trend towards more classic album structure and thematic content (best personified by Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly and Beyoncé's landmark Lemonade). Rihanna's ANTI showed that Rihanna was more than just a hit-making radio artist, and added her more-than-2 cents to the burgeoning album culture.

That said, she delivered what is arguably the hit of the year with her single "Work", which preceded ANTI in early 2016. Featuring fellow superstar Drake, "Work" has an infectious beat that's simplicity and light-weight bass line belie its ability to move bodies. Rihanna delivers a Creole and Carribean-inflected vocal that brings her back to her Barbadian roots, and Drake brings one of his best flows of his recent recordings. The combination is magic, unique, and unforgettable.