Music

A significant component of the culture of the nation is music. In addition to having a thriving jazz scene, modern Barbados has produced well-known musicians in the calypso and local spouge music genres. Tuk, soca, and reggae are well-liked. The five-week Crop Over festival, whose events start in late May and run throughout the summer, is the main source of the vast majority of modern Bajan calypso and soca music. The festival's events culminate in the Grand Kadooment (also known as Kadooment Day), a national holiday in Barbados, in the first week of August. Barbados holds the Barbados Jazz Festival each January. Barbados holds its annual Barbados Holetown Festival in the middle of February to commemorate the arrival of the first English immigrants.

Barbados is where singer Rihanna was born and raised. Her debut album, Music of the Sun, has a blend of Barbadian rhythms and American urban-pop songs, just as her second album, Loud, contains a blend of Ragga/Ska rhythms, along with Pop music, R&B/Hip Hop, and other genres. The designation of Robyn "Rihanna" Fenty as Barbados' tourism ambassador also gave her access to the island's political scene from 2011 to 2014.