Remembering Rihanna

Imagine this: It's 2012, and you just finished another tough day of 1st grade. No one ever told you how much harder it was going to be than kindergarten. Doing actual work during class and sitting at desks has you leaving each day more tired than the last. You climb into the car, and your parents ask you how your day was. As always, you say it was good, and you tell them about the friendships that ended because—

someone took their friend's crayons without permission. As you sit in a car seat in the back of the car with the windows rolled down a crack, you hear the familiar sound of "Diamonds" by Rihanna playing on the radio. Even though you have no idea what the song is about, you listen along because you love the melody.

"Diamonds" came on my shuffle recently and reminded me not only of the great times I had when I was young but also of an even greater time: when Rihanna was dropping music. Don't get me wrong, I love that this powerful woman has created a monopoly and found the right time to have a beautiful family! But I miss the music so much.

I miss singing along to "We Found Love" with my friends and jumping around like crazy when the beat drops. I miss screaming the lyrics of "Only Girl" and trying to hold the lyric world as long as she did in the song. I can't even begin to describe how crazy I would go when "Umbrella" came on, reaching the depths of my soul to achieve Rihanna-specific notes. Although her album Anti came out later on, "Love on the Brain" was the first song that I really was able to decipher and begin to develop my love of music over.

Rihanna was a part of the soundtrack of so many of our childhoods. She was on the radio, played during dances, and put on performances that will forever be timeless. So, although I am still loyal to her new music, with "Lift Me Up" nearly bringing me to tears every time I hear it, Rihanna's classics will always put me in a space where I feel Nostalgia Now!