In 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.