The 'Rudeboy' hitmaker admitted that she spent her childhood listening to "diva" music and dreaming about a career that followed in their footsteps.
"Janet Jackson, Destiny's Child, Whitney Houston - they were definitely the people who motivated me to do this, who I idolised and looked up to and said, 'I want to be like them, I want to do that one day, I want to back videos, make music and have CDs'," she told MTV.
"That started the dream and it just went from there, and became a reality."
Asked if she has encountered any of her heroines, Rihanna replied: "Yes I have met some of them and it's really, really strange. I still look at Mariah Carey and I'm a fan, I remember 'Vision Of Love' when I was repeating every night every move in that video."
