Rihanna might have sold millions of records, but at this point in her career, she wasn’t a millionaire by any stretch of the imagination. Like many singers in her position, she allowed others to sort out her finances and instead concentrated on making great records. According to the website blackarazzi.com, she fired her business manager, Patricia Williams, accusing her of stealing after she discovered how little there actually was in the bank.
Blackarazzi.com claimed Patricia Williams felt that she had to set the record straight. She said: ‘It’s not my fault that she only has $20,000 to her name. I have worked for many high-profile actors, musicians and multi-million dollar corporations. Why would I steal from Rihanna?
‘I showed her all the paperwork and tried to explain the circumstances to her, but she wouldn’t listen. She called me all sorts of horrible names and stormed off. I now feel compelled to share with the world the background story, as I will not allow my name to be slandered.
‘Def Jam doesn’t fund Rihanna properly, so Marc [her manager] uses the money Rihanna makes from third-party endorsements and from tours to fund her album and music videos.
‘I don’t want to disrespect Marc’s name. He is a fantastic manager and genuinely believes in Rihanna, but he uses her money to fund her future projects because he believes he can break her in the world market. Her album sales are not nearly as close to her single sales and he knows that if she is only known as a “singles artist” she will only be as good as her last hit. Unfortunately, he didn’t inform his client and I’m receiving the brunt of it.’
There was no official statement from Rihanna’s management in response to either the article or the claims being made about how little RiRi actually had in the bank.
Rihanna collaborated with the rapper T.I. on his track ‘Live Your Life’, which was released in September 2008 in the US and November 2008 in the UK. It had been leaked online shortly before its release. Their track samples ‘Dragostea din tei’, by the band O-Zone.
Rihanna and T.I first performed it together on 7 September 2008, at the MTV Video Music Awards. It charted at No. 1 in the US, giving Rihanna her fifth USA No. 1 and T.I his third; it also made No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 2 in the UK, No. 3 in Australia and Ireland, No. 4 in Canada and No. 5 in Austria and Holland.
The video was directed by Anthony Madler and plays backwards, with the start of the action being T.I battered and bloody at 6.33pm, and working backwards to 4.41pm to show what happened to him. Rihanna plays a singer, and the producer of the song, ‘Just Blaze’, makes a brief appearance as a man playing pool.
It won them a BET Award for ‘Viewers Choice’ and T.I also picked up the Best Male Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards. At the BET Hip Hop Awards, it scooped two awards: ‘Best Hip Hop Collaboration’ and ‘Best Hip Hop Video’.
When Rihanna was invited by L.A Reid to sing on the ‘Just Stand Up’ record, she couldn’t say no. She felt she had to be involved in the single, which raised money for the ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ charity, and joined forces with Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood, Sheryl Crow, Fergie, Leona Lewis, Keyshia Cole, Miley Cyrus, LeAnn Rimes, Natasha Bedingfield, Melissa Etheridge, Mary J. Blige, Ciara, Mariah Carey and Ashanti. Rihanna loves supporting charitable causes in whichever way she can.
Their single was released on 21 August 2008 and they also performed it on the ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ show, which aired on 5 September in the US. For the live performance, Nicole Scherzinger joined the group and sang Sheryl Crow’s part, with the other girls covering for LeAnn Rimes and Melissa Etheridge, who were also missing. No video for the single was ever made, but it did well in the charts, reaching No. 11 in the US charts, No. 1 in the UK and No. 10 in Canada.
On 6 October 2008, Rihanna released the last single from her Good Girl Gone Bad album. ‘Rehab’ was released in the UK two months later. Charting at No. 18 in the US and No. 16 in the UK, it did better elsewhere: it was No. 3 in Holland, No. 4 in Germany and Norway, and No. 6 in Belgium.
Justin Timberlake and Timbaland wrote the track for Rihanna back in 2007. Timbaland went on to produce it alongside Hannon Lane, and Justin Timberlake appeared in the video as Rihanna’s love interest. The track was actually one of Rihanna’s favourites from the Good Girl Gone Bad album.
Rihanna explained how the track came about to EW.com: ‘Well, Timbaland was on tour with Justin and we had to follow Timbaland, really. So we went to Chicago first and one night after the show, Justin just came into the studio and he started messing around, making a beat. And it was fun. We played around with that one, too. And when we came to New York, Justin came back to the studio and he was like, “I wanna write this song for Rihanna.” So Timbaland had an idea and he knew he wanted to call the song “Rehab” and he had a beat. So then Justin Timberlake came in and he just put his thing on it. He wrote the song in his head, he didn’t write anything on paper. He went into the booth and sang it, and I was very, very impressed. We all loved it.’
She went on to describe the track: ‘“Rehab” is a metaphorical song. “Rehab” really just means, “we have to get over the guy”. So we talk about checking ourselves into rehab, meaning we have to get over him. And we compare the guy to a disease or an addiction. We’re just saying, “We don’t wanna smoke any cigarettes no more,” meaning we don’t wanna deal with this (rubbish) anymore.’
They filmed the video at Vasquez Rocks Nature Area Park in California, and it was another video directed by Anthony Mandler. Some photos from the shoot were eventually leaked, and several websites suggested that Timberlake’s girlfriend at the time (Jessica Biel) was jealous of the chemistry between Justin and Rihanna.
In the video Rihanna leans up against a vintage car in the middle of the desert. Justin arrives on a motorbike, then has an outdoor shower before approaching Rihanna. They get close a few times in the video, and Rihanna wears some gorgeous outfits while singing how he is like a drug to her. The video was a big hit and was awarded ‘Best Music Video’ at the Urban Music Awards, while Rihanna was named ‘Best Female Artist’.
In the Digital Spy review, the journalist David Balls comments: ‘The pop pair put in such a highly charged, effortlessly sexual display that it’s no surprise Justin’s lady was far from happy.’
Carol Han from fashion site StyleCaster commented: ‘Rihanna’s brand new music video for her single “Rehab” was just released today, and it literally left me breathless. The only thing that had me more mesmerized than the sight of Justin Timberlake drenching himself in water, all scruffy-faced and hot, was the sight of Rihanna’s amazing green bathing suit.’