The story of Rihanna’s “discovery” in Barbados has always been gossip fodder. I’ve heard people swear up and down that Jay-Z secretly “discovered” Rihanna in Barbados… but not while she was singing. I also find the whole idea of someone being “discovered” to be sort of outdated, especially in this case, because it feels like we’re using coded, racialized language, like it took white folks coming to a “savage” island for Rihanna to be “discovered.” In any case, the official story is that a 15-year-old Rihanna was discovered while performing with her girl group in Barbados in 2003. She was discovered by American producer and songwriter Evan Rogers and a year later she had her “Pon de Replay” demo sent out to labels and once Jay-Z heard the demo, he signed her to Def Jam that day.
But there could have been another story of Rihanna’s discovery. Before Rogers ever came around, apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber took a vacation in Barbados too. And he heard her sing. And he thought about “bringing her back.” This is the creepy way he explained it:
King of musicals Andrew Lloyd Webber has said that he discovered Rihanna while on holiday but chose not to “bring her back” to the UK. In an interview on Good Morning Britain this week, Lloyd Webber explained how he had stumbled upon the global star while she was singing karaoke at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados 12 years ago, but he and his creative partner, Nigel Wright, decided not to follow their impulses although she sounded “very, very good”.
“I said to Nigel, ‘If we bring her back, you know it’s like when you see a picture when you’re away and you take it home and you think, why did I buy that?’” said Webber. “I thought: we’ll get her back, it’ll be fine, but then what do we do with her?”
When asked if he had any regrets, he said his missed opportunity was “not something he was proud of”.
So creepy, right? “You take it home and you think, why did I buy that?” And “we’ll get her back, it’ll be fine, but then what do we do with her?” God. The way men – older men – talk about women, right? I understand what he was trying to say, he just said it in such a creepy way. I’m assuming he meant that he was impressed with her voice but he would have no idea how to shepherd her music career. But to compare Rihanna to an impulse purchase while on holiday? Gross.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wow. This comment in full is even worse than it sounds in the header. Ugh, what a neo-colonial, racist, sexist piece of shit.
He’s disgusting. The way he talks about her as property the he debated “purchasing” is despicable. Vile man.
Objectifying women much? Welcome to the (exploiting everyone’s talent for financial gain) business side of music.
Glad he didn’t “discover” Rihanna and take the opportunity to devalue her anymore than he did with this interview.
Now, he can crawl back under his rock.
Yuck. I am losing respect for half of the world population these days….
I need to take a shower because that quote left me covered in ick. So disrespectful and racist.
Take note all music producers!: Unless you are black yourself, DO NOT even think about helping a non-white artist. Lest you be called neo-colonial, racist p.o.s.
Clearly you didn’t even READ what he said. It has nothing to do with a white producer helping a non-white artist. It has to do with him referring to her as a “purchase” he might later regret or a piece of property rather than a human being. Also, I feel there are definite undertones of White man “saving” Native and bringing her back to “civilization”.
I’m saying this as a white person.
OR….OR ALTERNATIVELY… How about those WHITE MALE (Female for that matter- ANY COLOR) you don’t talk about Human beings like they are on sale on the supermarket…. Options and what not.. unless treating people decently is the bridge too far?
GTFOH
Or….. and I’m just spit balling here, we understand that he grew up in a different time, but we make sure this generation knows that it’s wrong to treat humans like property that can be bought or sold. His phrasing was gross, and by teaching today’s youth that it is wrong is really the only way to end racism.
I believe this can be done in a respectable and tactful way, but saying pointing out wrongdoing will ruin future opportunities for minorities is perpetuating the issue unnecessarily.
I am all for a less PC culture, this however is not a fitting instance.
Really @Valkenburg? That’s your take on that story? Yikes.
Right?!? He talks about her as if she’s something he wanted to buy at a market.
Or, this is how most big-time important music people look at all the nobodies out there who they could turn into a somebody and make a ton of money off. This happens everywhere, every day. You don’t think the ppl who actually did sign Rihanna were doing it for any reason other than money, do you?
You might not like his phrasing, but it’s a big deal to bring a human to another country. You’d want to make sure it’s a good investment, and he wasn’t sure it was.
Sorry you folks seem to have to make everything into a racist offense but this was about a rich guy looking to make more money. Whoop de do.
You are right this is how men in the industry look at potential talent as something to be bought and cultivated to make money. And you are also right that it is about getting rich.
However there is a racial element to it and always has been. When he references what he would do with her it is a direct reference to her race and he as a white male musical creator wouldn’t know what to do with “urban” talent.
As a beige music writer I can attest to being in rooms with white execs when they speak about the talent and race is always a factor as is sex when it comes to female acts…
It is disturbing but this is not surprising and shocking. Entertainment is about money and product. Humans are just a product..
It’s so so so gross.
I am also squicked by his reference to “buy[ing]” a woman of African descent. Gross.
She’s of Caribbean descent.
She’s still black and of African descent, before 1492 the Caribbean was full of Native Americans. There’s a lot of people of African descent in the Caribbean because west Africans were used as slaves there by Europeans. A large amount of the Natives died from disease or intermarried with Africans and/or Europeans, dramatically changing the racial demographics of the islands.
If you want to get technical, every person on the planet is of African descent. Using an argument that Caribbean natives camw from Africa 600-700 years ago doesn’t work. Everyone came from Africa at some point. She not African. Don’t convolute this in an attempt to cry RACISM.
SQUICKED. Sorry, I had never heard this word before…. this is my new word. I am also repulsed by his behavior, as I commented upthread.
SQUICKKKKKEEEDDDD
His language is awful but even setting that aside, I just dont believe him. Has Rihanna confirmed this? Because this sounds like another white man to whom all black girls look the same and who assumes that there was only one talented teen girl on the island at that time.
I HOPE to god Rihanna goes full messy and shady on her Gram ..just to say No and Thanks
Yes, I hope people go HAM on this sick f**ker.
yeah, rihanna is plenty PROBLEMATIC herself. This andrew webber guy is a massive dick but I don’t understand the stanning for rihanna when she has said many problematic things herself.
I think I’ll pass on her “messy and shady” like when she compared vietnamese people to rice cakes on her Instagram. Or that time she made fun of her own fan (that made a prom dress inspired by one of rihanna’s outfits) which lead to the poor girl getting cyberbullied online. https://twitter.com/rihanna/status/464620761979052032/photo/1
@ Jess
Thank you. People always give her a pass for her horrible behavior.
i wonder if she sang karaoke and joined a girl group knowing she would need to be ‘discovered’ by somebody from a mainland to go anywhere with her voice without moving herself to the mainland and trying to land a contract herself.
Don’t worry: he’s already taken one hell of a hammering in the UK press for these nauseating comments.
He’s not very popular here, to put it mildly.
ALW, the man who flew first class from the US to the UK for one day, so that he could vote in the HoL to stop a parliamentary rebellion on cuts to welfare.
Horrible man.
@Sixer and Pup, he is, and always was, and unctuous old toad of the first water! We always used to say that someone put his face on inside out. Cannot ABIDE the man!
This Sixer, this. Creepy gross f***er. To say this about any woman when you’re a middle aged man is weird but layer on the circs and it’s even more minging.
“I’ve heard people swear up and down that Jay-Z secretly “discovered” Rihanna in Barbados… but not while she was singing.”
What’s the story there?
No idea but seems creepy since she was a teen I think. He also supposedly has a son there,, or so I’ve read on this site or similar
The insinuation is that they banged.
Welp. That is an incredibly creepy, racist, sexist way of referring to a person. The sad thing is I doubt he even realizes why people will find his words disgusting. Also, I know about the Jay Z rumor but it is ugly and I’ve never believed it (and I believe Jay Z gets up to some shady sh*t but not that).
I am curious to see if Rihanna manages to successfully transition to TV and movies. She’s certainly beautiful enough, and she’s booked some promising projects.
I don’t believe his story. Rihanna simply doesn’t sound good while singing. JayZ and Jay Brown discovered Rihanna while she was in a pageantry in her home town in Barbados. They chose her because she had “exotic eyes” and they knew that would appeal to people. The other girls that were signed at the same time as Rihanna (Tierra Marie & Amerie)weren’t really given more chances after Pon the Replay kicked off which sulked for them because they were more talented but had to take a backseat cos rih had more commercial appeal. Jayz and Jay Brown ultimately wanted to replicate Beyoncé’s success. If you saw early Rihanna interviews, she always said Beyoncé’s was the kinda career she wanted and she was referred to as the Barbadian Beyoncé . She only started with the shade when she became successful
That’s not true. First of all Amerie was on Colombia/ Sony Music. Tierra Marie and Rihanna were on Def Jam / Universal Music Group. Out of the girls you mentioned Tiarra Marie was the “chosen one”. She had Jay Z intro her single. She was the one the label was pouring money into. Even after her first single was lackluster and peaked at 35 on Billboard. Meanwhile, Rihanna’s Pon De Replay peaked @ #2. It was only blocked by Mariah’s blockbuster We Belong Together. Rihanna and her manager famously had to self finance her second album through endorsement deals because L.A Reid and Jay Z couldn’t be bothered. She also had to beg The Dream for Umbrella, which was offered to every big popstar at the time (Britney, Gwen, Janet, Fergie) until Rihanna finally got it. Say what you will about Rihanna, but her and her team (Jay Brown, Evan Rodgers) hustled for her to get big. Later Jay Z got shady and pretends like he mentored and guided Rihanna’s career, and how he’s always had faith in her. L.A Reid spilled all the tea in his book.
@ Farah
That makes sense. Tierra is way more talented than Rihanna. I get why Jay would initially be more invested in her instead.
YASSS Farah tell them
I heard her sing Hero by Mariah Carey on YouTube, and it was awful. She looked beautiful, but sounded like a dying cat.
RiRi don’t care about you, Lloyd.
His face is ummm… interesting.
Right? He looks like the flying dog from the movie “The Neverending Story”
Oh wow! I can’t un-see that now hahaha
effin Falcor man! yes
Falcor = luck dragon
As an FFD representative (Fictional Flying Dragons), my client would like to point out that he ‘does not know’ Andrew Lloyd Webber and is disconcerted by spurious claims that they might be related.
LMAO @ I Choose Me 🙂
Anilehcim: No 🙂 The flying dog is cute
Ooooh, bring her back like an exotic trinket for the collection. No, he wouldn’t know what to do with her because he’s the king hack of shit middle-brow ‘entertainment’ and she has actual talent.
The way THIS older man talks about younger women. Can we stop generalizations please? This guy is a creep for how he talks about Rhi, and all older men shouldn’t be grouped with this man.
Ugh he’s always had a ‘slug in pant’ (trousers) vibe and this just proves it. Despicable.
Gross. So racist. Have a seat Webber.
2016, the year we found out that everyone was terrible
This man is a musical genius and I doubt his troubling description of the one that got away would piss Rihanna off as much as it does some of us. She has been in the states barely over a decade and is a worldwide success and just surpassed M.J.’s record of number 1 singles. She is strong, beautiful and when pushed will push back harder, so look out Andrew. In my heart of hearts, even though he compared her to a purchase you didn’t know what to do with afterward, he did say his missed opportunity was “not something he was proud of.” He basically said he blew it. Your loss, Andrew. Love you RiRi!!
I’d like to state for the record, that I have never, ever liked this dude or any of his flashy, cheesy, nerve-grating works.
No one can deny the extent of his commercial success, but clearly the goofy mofo that brought Cats & Phantom of the Opera into the world, hasn’t learned anything in the way of self-awareness, decency, or respect.
What a privileged condescending prick.
Wow, Did he do something (other than this statement about the Rihanna discovery f up) that I don’t know about? We all have different preferences in our music choices, but damn Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and like you said Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Most composers would kill for just one of those masterpieces, imo anyway. I Don’t Know How To Love Him is right up there on my list of favorites, Don’t Cry for Me Argentina?? I can’t make anyone like somebody they seem to hate, but it’s not like he’s trump or hurt anyone that I’m aware of, other than the above ill chosen words about how he lost Rihanna. Oh well, you say potato and I say potatoe, it’s all one’s personal taste!
Jesus Christ Superstar? Masterpiece? Really? As I prefaced, his commercial success can’t be denied.
I’d be willing to wager most composers would give anything to have the baffling success he’s had. Not so much the creative attachment to any of those. A lot of them have head scratching, side-eye inducing lyrics like Cats’ Growltiger’s Last Stand.
“With a frightful burst of fireworks the Ch–ks they swarmed aboard…”
Then again, after year I get bombarded with the date-rapey Christmas song favorite, Baby it’s Cold Outside.
But you’re right.
‘Tis just personal taste.
Completely agree! I can’t stand Cats, and this is not the first time that he’s made nasty comments about a woman.
Amen, Val. So much about this dude just rubs me the wrong way. Always has.
I don’t really take issue with “discovered”, as I’ve seen it used for pretty much all musical artists, some actors, models, etc.
But ALW’s comments? DISGUSTING. How dare he refer to her in that way, “bringing her back” like she was a souvenir of his travels.
this is so gross. i’ve just been reading about the inuit boy, minik, who, along with his father, was taken from greenland to new york, basically as a “curiosity”. naturally, this did not end well.
i’m sure a.l.w. didn’t intend his comment to reek of privileged white male colonialism and misogyny, but i think the oblivious nature of it makes it even worse. :/
Just wow! This man is disgusting!
What a dinosaur.