Rihanna (16 page)

Rihanna seemed so happy with Matt that many fans had decided he must be the one for her, and expected them to
announce their engagement someday soon, although the couple had only been dating for just under a year. Seeing Katy get married made Rihanna’s fans want the same for her, but they had no idea that things weren’t going to turn out as they planned.

I
n October 2010, Rihanna decided to release ‘What's My Name?' featuring Drake. It went to No. 1 in the US, UK, Brazil and Hungary, No. 3 in Ireland, Slovakia, New Zealand and No. 4 in Norway. Rihanna and her collaborator Drake actually had history as a couple.

Just weeks after she split up with Chris Brown in 2009, the press had suggested Rihanna and Drake were dating, after sources claimed to have seen them kissing and cuddling at the Lucky Strike Lanes, a bowling alley in New York. Rihanna got to know Drake after approaching him to write a song for
Rated R.
In the end, his song didn't make the final cut.

A year later Rihanna admitted that she was attracted to Drake back then, but she wasn't ready because her relationship with Chris had only just ended. In a radio
interview with Hot 97, she admitted: ‘We weren't really sure what it was. We just went out – my friends, his friends. I definitely was attracted to Drake, but I think it is what it is, like it was what it was. We didn't want to take it any further. It was at a really fragile time in my life, so I just didn't want to get too serious with anything or anyone at that time.'  

Drake seemed to take a different view on what happened between them, telling the
New York Post
in June 2010: ‘I was a pawn. You know what she was doing to me? She was doing exactly what I've done to so many women throughout my life, which is show them quality time, then disappear. I was like, wow, this feels terrible.'  

Rihanna was asked how she felt about being called a ‘pawn' by Power 105.1 radio, and replied: ‘I would definitely say that was wrong, he doesn't know what he's talking about. We just became friends and we left it at that. We get along really well. Drake has a youthful thing about him and he is very melodic with the way he writes, and I felt I needed someone like that for “What's My Name?”'  

Things between them must now be fine, because if Drake had had a problem with RiRi they wouldn't have recorded the track together, and she would have asked someone else.  

The video was directed by Philip Andelman in New York. Rihanna had never worked with him before, but she liked his ideas. She decided to go for the ‘dancehall queen couture look' in this particular video; her street scenes were
shot on 26 September 2010, and her scenes with Drake were shot a month later, on 27 October.  

In the video, Rihanna goes to buy milk from a shop, but smiles when she sees Drake talking to the assistant. When he approaches her, she drops her milk carton on the floor. She's shown walking in Manhattan, getting close to Drake at home, drinking champagne with him, and later, dancing with friends at a night-time drumming party.  

The video was filmed on the streets of New York, and so hundreds of people were watching, including the paparazzi. Someone recorded Rihanna doing her thing, and it was leaked online. This must have been disappointing for Rihanna but was probably inevitable, because it wasn't a closed set.  

Since things didn't get too serious between Drake and RiRi, they were able to do ‘What's My Name?' together. Rihanna was aware that the video might have upset Matt or made him feel uncomfortable, but she told the radio host: ‘[Matt] never said it out loud, but I don't know what he's thinking. He watched it the other day and he was like, “I love that video. It's a great video, babe.” I don't know how true that really was, but he seemed to like it.'  

It had actually been a bit weird for Rihanna to get so close to Drake when they first started shooting the video, but after a while she was able to relax and just get on with it. Having so many people around was also rather
nerve-wracking
for her, because she hadn't expected such a crowd to be there watching her do her scenes in the street; this was also difficult at first. She told BBC Radio 1: ‘I just took
a shot of a cocktail just before the video, then I went on the street and did my thing – there were a lot of people watching, so many cameras everywhere. I had to get in my own zone and do my thing.'  

She also admitted in the interview that she was in love with Matt, saying: ‘It's really difficult because we are so far from each other most of the year and we both have very demanding schedules. It gets difficult at times but it is what it is. I'm in love and I'm very happy, but we have only been dating for a few months so no wedding for now – we are taking it easy.'  

After the video was completed she performed the song solo several times, including a performance on the US show
Saturday Night Live
and during
The X Factor
final in the UK. The first time she performed it with Drake was at the 2011 Grammy Awards in February of that year, and the second time was on her birthday, when she was performing at the NBA All Star Game.  

Rihanna became involved in an augmented reality video concept for ‘Doritos Late Night' in October 2010. She recorded the track ‘Who's That Chick?' with David Guetta, and they filmed two versions of the video initially, one set in the day and another one at night. In order to see the night version of the video, fans had to buy a bag of Doritos Late Night chips, and use their smartphones or webcams to scan a barcode on the back of the bag, which allowed them to see the clip and change viewpoints by moving the bag. They could also switch between day and night.  

Filming the two videos was strange for Rihanna, because
they had to be identical, so the same choreography was used and the same angles were shot: the only differences were the costumes and some aspects of the set.  

A third video showing David Guetta on a spaceship and watching Rihanna on monitors was released in January 2011 (the Rihanna section of the video was taken from the earlier videos). The track was included on Guetta's album,
One More Love
, and was released for download on 22 November.  

‘Who's That Chick?' is a David Guetta track featuring Rihanna, not a Rihanna track featuring David Guetta, but UK radio stations kept saying that the track was on the
Loud
album when that was first released. As a consequence, David's management decided to write to all the radio stations to ask them to remove ‘Who's That Chick?' from their playlists. Ultimately they wanted fans of the song to buy
One Love
, David's album, and not Rihanna's album. The track eventually reached No. 6 in the UK charts, but it may have done better had it been played on the radio more.  

It charted at No. 1 in Slovakia and Belgium, No. 4 in Austria and Ireland, No. 5 in Norway, France, Finland and Spain and No. 6 in the UK, Germany and Holland. However, it fared less well in the US, as it only managed to reach No. 51. Indeed, Rihanna herself saw the song as more of a Doritos advert rather than a proper single.  

During an interview with
Entertainment Weekly
, she was asked if she was hesitant about doing a song about being in a club, because so many songs seem to be about the same
thing. She was really honest and said: ‘Yeah, I know. And that's why it's a bonus track and not on
Loud
. It's a great song, but it's safe. It's like a lot of other songs out there.'  

Her favourite version was the ‘Day' one because she liked the brightness of it. It also reflected more of the new direction she was taking, as she was starting to add colourful items to her wardrobe. She was moving away from the darkness she had expressed in her ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour'.  

On Halloween 2010, Rihanna performed a Mad
Hatterthemed
version of ‘Only Girl (In the World)' on the
X Factor Results Show.
For the performance she was shown sitting at a long table, enjoying a banquet with some glamorous guests and being served food by waiters. As she sang, she stood up, climbed on to the table and walked up and down it, while carrying on with her song. She then ate some cake before throwing it at one of the guests. This creates a huge food fight between the guests, and the song ends with Rihanna once again on the table.  

The
X Factor
judges loved the performance, but host Dermot O'Leary felt it was a bit weird, as the guests continued to throw food at one another while he was interviewing Rihanna. He wanted them to stop, but she just said: ‘It's fun, I want some. It tastes good!'  

After she made her way off stage, the
X Factor
crew had just a few minutes to get the stage cleaned up during the advertising break. Sinitta was watching in the audience and tweeted: ‘The stage is covered in cake, cream, cupcakes!!! Hahaha they are slipping all over trying to clean it up in
time!! One minute to get the gunk off! I don't think they'll do it!'  

After the show wrapped, RiRi was feeling hungry, so she headed off to a Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge, then went on to the Whisky Mist nightclub.

R
ihanna travelled to Barbados for the state funeral of Prime Minister David Thompson on 3 November 2010. As she made her way to the Kensington Oval she was applauded. Lots of people had said she wouldn’t be there, but she had made the trip: she had to pay her respects. Ten thousand people attended the funeral, and it was screened on TV so that any Bajan who wanted to could watch. Rihanna cried during the service.

She released a short tribute, which was published on the website NationNews.com. In it she said: ‘I am deeply saddened by the passing of Prime Minister David Thompson. He was a great man. True to form, even as he battled cancer, he remained focused on fulfilling his public responsibilities. This is a great loss to our country. My thoughts are with his
family, who loved him dearly, his friends and with all of the citizens of Barbados.’  

Having the opportunity to get to know David Thompson while he was alive, as well as other politicians on her home island, thanks to her role as the Youth and Cultural Ambassador for Barbados, has made Rihanna think about getting into politics. However, she did admit to a reporter from the
Sun
that she still has much to learn. She said: ‘I’m not good at the politics side at the moment. It terrifies me because I am so young. But maybe one day in years, decades from now, I’ll get involved. I think more pop stars should care about their country and how it’s run.’  

Rihanna’s visit to Barbados was extremely short, because the next day she had to switch on the Christmas lights at the Westfield London Shopping Centre. It was only 4 November, so it was extremely early, but Rihanna did her best to get in the Christmas spirit. It must have been difficult mourning for her Prime Minister one day, then having to be all happy and excited the next day in front of hundreds of people.  

She tweeted her fans: ‘Westfield Mall, London! Its BANANAS in here! #RihannaNavy it doesn’t get better than u guys.’ When asked by presenter George Lamb what her Christmas wish was, she said ‘more sleep’, and told the hundreds of fans in the audience to add
Loud
to their wishlist before the big countdown.  

‘I just want to wish you all to get the gifts that you want!’ she shouted.

The next night she had to be in Madrid to perform at the MTV EMA Awards Pre-Party, and so she didn’t have much time to spare. Poor RiRi must have been worn out by all the travelling she had to do that week, but she kept on going and caught up on her sleep when she could.  

She was invited to perform with Bon Jovi and couldn’t believe that they wanted to sing with her. It didn’t even sink in when they were on stage together, singing ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’; it was like a dream, and afterwards she tweeted her fans: ‘Wait!…did I just rock out with Bon Jovi tonight??? WTFFFF!!!!!!!’  

Jon Bon Jovi thought Rihanna did a great job, and he told the
Daily Star
: ‘Rihanna was amazing. We didn’t rehearse – she just came in for the soundcheck and nailed the song first time. I hear she’s learning the guitar but who needs to play guitar when you can sing like that? It was so beautiful. She sang great, she’s a sweetheart of a girl. She’s a big fan, too. It was great!’  

Bon Jovi probably didn’t realise it, but that night on stage in the Teatro Circo Price was the highlight of Rihanna’s year. ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ was one of her favourite songs, and so getting the opportunity to sing it with Bon Jovi was a dream come true. She had been listening to their music with her friends for years.  

The actual MTV EMA Awards were held the next night, and although Rihanna didn’t pick up any awards herself, she seemed happy as she performed ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ wearing a crown and nude corseted minidress. Katy Perry won the award for Best Video for ‘California Gurls’, so the
friends had one award between them. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga picked up three awards: Best Female, Best Pop and Best Song for ‘Bad Romance’.  

After the awards ceremony finished, Rihanna and Katy headed for an Italian restaurant with Russell and Matt, no doubt to celebrate Katy’s win and the fact that ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ was No. 1 in the UK, after knocking Cheryl Cole’s ‘Promise This’ off the top spot. The girls certainly stood out from the other diners in the restaurant, as Rihanna wore a gorgeous blue sparkling Emilio Pucci minidress with an open back, and Katy was still wearing the green and silver dress with feather detailing that she wore to collect the award.  

Rihanna’s fifth album was called
Loud
and it came out on 12 November 2010. She had recorded it during her ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour’, between February and August. It was very different from
Rated R
as it was more
up-tempo
and dance-pop-based. Before the release, she told fans what to expect on her official fansite RihannaDaily.com: ‘get LOUD everybody, get crazy, get excited, cuz I’m pumped. I’m just gonna be ME, cuz that’s what u guys love the most, and that’s what makes me feel best.  

‘Just being normal, normal for me is LOUD! Sassy, fun, flirty, energetic.’  

One hundred of the best writers and producers were invited to write songs for
Loud
, and Rihanna could choose her favourites. The songwriters took part in big writing workshops in Miami and Los Angeles; Rihanna and her
team provided their ideas and the themes they wanted the songwriters to focus on.  

On the day her
Loud
album came out RiRi felt as if it was her birthday, she was so excited. She had promotional interviews to do, but she was also thrilled that her brother Rorrey (who was 21) was flying in to see her.  

She always buys a copy of her own albums, because she wants to experience what her fans experience. Rihanna loves going into a store, seeing it on the shelf and paying for it herself.  

Most musicians would want to take a few months off after releasing an album and promoting it, but not Rihanna. She loves releasing albums in quick succession and doesn’t see the point in stopping. A performer through and through, she wants to create great songs for her fans. She told
Good Morning America
: ‘There’s no rule that says you need to take a break between albums. We’re here to make music and the fans want music.  

‘I feel like my fans can grow with me because it exudes the energy and place that I’m in at that moment, every time I make an album.’  

Loud
came out after ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ and ‘What’s My Name?’ had already been released.  

The graphic lyrics of ‘Man Down’ have caused some controversy, as Rihanna describes shooting a man dead in Central Station, but again there is another meaning behind them: she is singing about breaking someone’s heart. She divulged: ‘It’s a very cleverly written song and what I love about it is that it’s not a lyric you’d normally hear a female
singing. The vibe is Jamaican and West Indian, that’s something that’s close to me.’  

When asked about ‘Man Down’, RiRi explained to
Q
Magazine
: ‘It’s an analogy. It’s about breaking a certain man’s heart. It’s about ending his hopes and causing pain, which is like a gun shot.’  

One of her favourite tracks on the album is the anthem ‘Cheers’, which cleverly samples Avil Lavigne’s vocal from her ballad ‘I’m With You’. It’s one of the most catchy,
feel-good
songs on the album. She also liked the catchiness of ‘What’s My Name?’.  

Rihanna was actually disappointed that she couldn’t get Avril Lavigne to re-record the section of ‘I’m With You’ that she used in ‘Cheers (Drink To That)’. She was about to make the request when she discovered that her producers had already embedded the original version in the track, and so it was too late. Even though she didn’t manage to have Avril re-record it, you wouldn’t have been able to tell any difference even if she had: it would have sounded virtually identical.  

Rihanna told MTV: ‘I’m just glad that we could use her sample, because it became such a huge part of the instrumental that if it were not in the song, it would change the whole vibe of it.’  

‘“Cheers” is one of my favourite songs. It makes you feel like celebrating. It gives you a great feeling inside, like you want to go out and have a drink. People can’t wait for the weekend.’  

During another interview, she revealed to
Entertainment
Tonight
: ‘Loud is the word, the name of the album definitely reflects the attitude of it: it’s really sassy and flirty, and it grabs your attention and that’s why I enjoy it. It takes you through a really, really interesting ride. So colourful the album!’  

She added that, for her, the most personal song on
Loud
was ‘Fading’ because, ‘It’s about the end of a relationship and how you deal with it and move on.’  

To the BBC she said: ‘I wanted to exude the energy and space I’m in right now – that’s what I always try and do with my music. Right now in my life I feel very loud and in charge of my life, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the new album. It has such a variety of sounds, but it all makes sense for this album. There is a song on the album that is a straight-up Jamaican record and I love it – I even do a little chat on it at the end, haha.’  

The album performed well, charting at No. 1 in the UK, Ireland, Croatia, Japan and Norway, No. 2 in Australia, Germany and Belgium and No. 3 in the US, Austria, France and Russia. Rihanna’s songwriters, producers and collaborating artists included: Drake, Ne-Yo, Nicki Minaj, Taio Cruz, Sean Garrett, Alex da Kid, Timbaland, Rico Love, Ester Dean, David Guetta and Shontelle.  

When
Loud
sold 10,000 fewer copies in the first week of its release in the US than
Rated R
, some people expected Rihanna to be worried, but she wasn’t at all. She doesn’t scare easily and she knew that one week of sales wasn’t going to say whether the album was a hit or miss. Indeed, it might have sold just 170,000 copies that week, but ‘Good
Girl Gone Bad’ had only sold 160,000 in its first week, and it went on to sell millions!  

When the album was released, the critics had mixed feelings about it. The
Los Angeles Times
and
USA Today
both gave it three out of four stars, but it only managed three out of five stars from
Rolling Stone
and
Slant
magazines. In his review for the
Boston Globe,
journalist James Reed described the album as ‘an unabashed return to where Rihanna belongs: the dance floor. As if liberating herself from the depths, she’s a force on these 11 songs,
hop-scotching
from electro-pop (‘Only Girl (In the World)’) to Top 40 balladry fit for Taylor Swift (‘California King Bed’)’. Metacritic gave the album a score of 67 out of 100, based on 22 reviews (this was slightly lower than
Rated R
, which had received a score of 76).

The tracks on the album were:

1. ‘S & M’
   
2. ‘What’s My Name?’ (featuring Drake)
   
3. ‘Cheers (Drink to That)’
   
4. ‘Fading’
   
5. ‘Only Girl (In the World)’
   
6. ‘California King Bed’
   
7. ‘Man Down’
   
8. ‘Raining Men’ (featuring Nicki Minaj)
   
9. ‘Complicated’
   
10. ‘Skin’
    
11. ‘Love the Way You Lie (Part II)’ (featuring Eminem)
    

To launch
Loud
in the UK, Rihanna invited journalists to join her at a very special party in the West End. They sipped on cocktails as they listened to five songs, and then Rihanna talked about individual tracks and how she had wanted to create an album full of tracks that people would want to listen to, all the way through. She didn’t want them to have to press the skip button.  

Rihanna also held a special promotional day in Paris, to get people excited about the release of
Loud
. As well as giving interviews she performed as well, singing ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ on the French TV show,
Le Grand Journal
, on a stage covered in white balloons. After the performance, she was being interviewed when the female host ran up to the stage and started to perform her own version of ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ with two backing dancers! Rihanna laughed because it was so funny, but the next minute the entire audience got up, walked over to the stage and joined in. It must have been a very surreal moment for RiRi.  

During her whistlestop tour of Paris, she did manage to go shopping with her friends in a Prada store, and had a quick look at a display of sneakers. She also visited the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion house with Matt Kemp and her entourage, and was snapped having dinner at the Sardana A Tavola restaurant.  

The cover art chosen for the
Loud
album was a
close-up
of Rihanna’s face and the top of one of her shoulders. She has her eyes closed and her mouth is slightly open. Her lips are painted bright red and her red hair frames
the shot. You can just about make out part of the ‘rebelle fleur’ tattoo on her neck. This was the first of Rihanna’s album covers not to have her name on the front, and simply said ‘L O U D’ at the bottom. In many ways, this shows just how much she has achieved since
Music of the
Sun
came out in 2005. She is so well known now that she doesn’t need her name on the cover to tell people whose album it is: they know immediately, as soon as they see her face.  

The ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ cover art was the first cover fans saw from the
Loud
group, because the album had not yet been released. It was the crossover single from ‘Rated R’ to ‘Loud’, which may explain why Rihanna continued the semi-nude theme of some of the
Rated R
singles’ cover art. In the ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ cover art, she kneels naked in a field, holding a red dress up against her body. Her hip tattoo is clearly visible and she wears a necklace and an armlet. Her hair is wild and free, a theme running through the other
Loud
single covers. Rihanna’s name is missing, and just the softer ‘R’ logo is displayed in the top left-hand corner, with the song title at the bottom of the image.  

For the ‘What’s My Name?’ cover art, Rihanna chose a beautiful image that makes her look almost like a bridesmaid. She wears her hair loose, with a jewelled flower headband, and the only glimpse of the outfit we see is some peach-coloured netting. There is a blue hue to the image, as there is in the cover art for the other
Loud
singles; the background is a peach colour, which seems almost like
sunlight shining down on Rihanna as it covers part of her hair. The softer ‘R’ logo is in the top left-hand side, while the title of the track and the credit stating Drake is featured on it are found at the bottom of the image.