Taking its cue from the rhythms of dancehall and reggaeton, Rihanna's MUSIC OF THE SUN is a dance-pop record with enough distinctive accents and flavors to make it stand out from the crowd. Rihanna's debut takes island-influenced beats and Jamaican-inflected accents and superimposes them on straight-up contemporary R&B. The combination works nicely, as evidenced by "Pon de Replay," the album's incredibly infectious lead-off track and single. Rihanna effectively synthesizes reggae's cadences into her singsong melodies, bringing some of that genre's sunny beauty to the urban pulses of modern dance-pop, making MUSIC OF THE SUN a perfect soundtrack for the club dancefloor and outdoor summer parties alike.