Rihanna recalls Jay-Z audition 15 years later: 'I was shaking'

Rihanna has come a long way since her debut track Pon de Replay and yesterday, fans celebrated the 15th anniversary of the song’s release. The singer later responded with a personal message on her Instagram stories, in which she recalled an encounter with Jay-Z which started it all: her audition with his then-record label Def Jam Recordings.

Rihanna thanked her fans - who call themselves the Navy - for “all the love” and said it was “trippy” to reflect on her career.

She said, “Feels like just yesterday I was shaking in the hallways of Def Jam waiting to audition for Jay.”

“Pon de Replay is where it all began...15 years later and I’m here because God led me to you, and you guys have held me up, supported me, tolerated me, loved me, kept it too real with me, and we gon always be connected because of that,” she continued, addressing her Navy.

Rihanna has previously discussed her audition for Def Jam in detail, which saw her audition for Jay-Z who was president of the label at the time. She previously said in an interview with The Guardian that she recalled being “very shy” and “cold the entire time.”

“I was like: "Oh God, he's right there, I can't look, I can't look, I can't look!”...I had butterflies. I'm sitting across from Jay-Z. Like, Jay-Zee. I was star-struck,” she said.

Rihanna actually wound up singing Pon de Replay for Jay-Z during the audition, as well as a couple of other songs. She said it “went well” and added that the label “locked me into the office - till 3am.”

“And Jay-Z said, 'There's only two ways out. Out the door after you sign this deal. Or through this window ...' And we were on the 29th floor. Very flattering,” she continued.

Rihanna first signed with Def Jam in 2005 at the age of 17 years old, though she later left the label 5 years later. She didn’t go very far as she actually signed with Jay-Z yet again, who had left Def Jam the year prior to create his own label Roc Nation.

The Umbrella singer added in her social media message that she was “grateful” to her fans, who have been clamouring for the singer to release a new album.

The last time she released new music was in 2016 with her album Anti, however she has since focused on other endeavours including her Fenty Beauty makeup label, lingerie line Savage x Fenty and LVMH-owned Fenty luxury fashion house.

She was recently declared Britain's richest female musician with an estimated net worth of £468 million after moving to London to be closer to her LVMH label.

The list also declared her the third richest British musician following Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paul McCartney.