After assisting him on The X Factor USA, record executive, songwriter, and record producer, L.A. Reid, who signed Rihanna to his record label in 2005, spoke of Rihanna as, "masterful". He continued by saying, "this girl gets it. She understands the true depths of it, the personalities, the material, the voice, the voice intonations, the imaging of it. As we discussed each performer and the different layers, I haven't had that calibre of a discussion about a musical artist or musical acts with anyone in quite some time."