We Found Love
Encyclopedia
"We Found Love" is a song by Barbadian
recording artist Rihanna
, from her sixth studio album Talk That Talk
(2011). The song features Scottish singer-songwriter
Calvin Harris
. "We Found Love" was released as the lead single
from the album and premiered on September 22, 2011, in the United Kingdom on the Capital FM
radio station and was made available to download on the same day. The song has met with mixed reviews from music critics
, who praised the song's composition and Rihanna's vocal performance, however, some critics felt that the lyrical content was sparse and came second to Harris' production.
"We Found Love" reached number one in its sixth week on the Billboard Hot 100
, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 in the shortest amount of time and Harris his first number-one single. With the song becoming the singer's eleventh number one single, Rihanna has become only the seventh artist in the 53 year history of the chart to amass at least eleven number one singles, as well as tying her with Whitney Houston
in third place for females with the most number one singles, behind only Madonna
(12) and Mariah Carey
(18). The song has also peaked at 1 on both US Hot Dance Club Songs and Pop Songs
charts. Elsewhere, "We Found Love" peaked at number one in New Zealand, Denmark, France, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and has attained top-five positions in Australia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea.
The song's accompanying music video
was directed by Melina Matsoukas
and presents Rihanna's relationship with her boyfriend as being like a drug and how their addiction to each other results in the singer leaving her boyfriend because of his possessive nature. The video received a mixed response from critics, and they noted that the video strongly alludes to ex-boyfriend Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna.
(2010), the singer revealed via Twitter
that the album would be re-issued with new songs and released in Fall 2011, writing that "[t]he [Loud era] continues with more new music to add to [your] collection". In September 2011, Rihanna took to Twitter to confirm that plans for a re-issue of Loud had been scrapped, with the singer tweeting "I [thought about] a [re-release], but LOUD is its own body of work! Plus [you] guys work so [fucking] hard that [you] deserve to act brand new". On September 19, 2011, Rihanna further provoked excitement amongst her followers on twitter when the singer posted that she was listening to the song, only to be re-tweeted by Harris, who replied "Sometimes it feels like we find love in the most hopeless place", suggesting that his response contained possible lyrics from the song. In an interview with Capital FM radio, Harris explained that followers of Rihanna on twitter had sent messages to him regarding their expectations of the song, saying "The song better not be rubbish", which Harris interpreted as slightly threatening, but went on to say that "it's all part of the fun". "We Found Love" premiered in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2011, on Capital FM
radio, and was sent for mainstream adds on October 11, 2011. The song was released via iTunes
on September 22, 2011. The song was produced by Scottish singer-songwriter Calvin Harris
.
page on September 22, 2011. Grady Smith of Entertainment Weekly
s The Music Mix criticized the song's artwork, writing "'We found love in a hopeless place,' Rihanna repeats over a David Guetta-ish synth beat. But judging by the single cover, her place doesn't look too hopeless, does it? Maybe there's a building on fire outside the frame, and that fire hydrant doesn't work. I guess that would be hopeless." A reviewer for Sugar Magazine
wrote that "On anyone else this would be a pretty odd look but Rihanna somehow makes a denim overload look good". A reviewer for Neon Limelight commented that Rihanna appeared to be adopting a tomboy
image for the new project, writing, "She really is going for that sexy tomboy look this album era it seems; remember the laid back look she rocked on the single's cover art?".
song. According to the digital music sheet published at musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key
of G♭ major with a beat of of 120 beats per minute
. Rihanna's vocal range in the song spans one Octave
, from the lower note of C♯4 to the higher note of C♯5.
magazine praised the song, writing "[it] boasts a higher-energy, peak-hour vibe." Michael Cragg of The Guardian
commented that the song is in the same vein as one of Rihanna's previous singles, "Only Girl (In the World)
", with regard to its dance beat. Cragg also likened the song to Leona Lewis
's recent single, "Collide", but criticized the song's structure, writing "the song structure is slightly odd, with the first chorus almost being sidelined in favour of a large chunk of Harris's riff (that would explain the 'feat'), before they join on the second chorus." Glen Gamboa of Newsday also compared "We Found Love" to material by Kylie Minogue
, whom Harris is known for collaborating with frequently. A reviewer for GlobalGrind commented about "We Found Love"s lyrics, suggesting that there is perhaps an underlying message in the song for ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, in the line "We found love in a hopeless place". This further raised suspicion when Brown re-tweeted one of Rihanna's tweets
, which read "Sometimes it feels like we found love in the most hopeless place". Priya Elan of NME commented on "We Found Love" with regard to it being chosen as the lead single from the album, writing that it "breaks the mold" from previous lead singles from Rihanna's albums, because of the songs lack of shock factor that the singers previous lead singles have had, writing "By now it's pretty customary to have a jaw-on-the-floor reaction to the first single from a Rihanna album. 'Pon de Replay
', 'SOS
', 'Umbrella
', 'Russian Roulette
', 'Only Girl (In the World)
' ... is 'We Found Love' the first one to break the spell?". Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone
was critical of the song, writing it is the "worst single of Rihanna's career", but noted that it would probably still do well commercially.
Amanda Dobbins of New York
magazine praised the composition of the song, writing "Harris's electro fingerprints are all over this one — it plays like a straight house track, with some dreamy Rihanna vocals added in over the beat." Robbie Daw of Idolator
commented on the song's lyrics, with particular emphasis on the line "We found love in a hopeless place", writing that it is possibly the best lyric in pop music so far in 2011. Glen Gamboa of Newsday
criticized the lack of lyrics in the song, but praised the songs composition, writing that it is a "club anthem song" which consists of Rihanna chanting "We found love in a hopeless place" throughout most of the song, which Gamboa described as “poignant and sweetly triumphant”. Gamboa went on to write that "We Found Love' is a more streamlined, mainstream version of dubstep, though it does keep some unique electronic loops and complicated rhythms." Leah Collins of The Vancouver Sun
praised Rihanna's vocal performance in the song, writing that the singer "smoothes out her vocals for this cut — dropping a 'Fly
' coo instead of an 'Only Girl (In the World)
' crow." However, Amos Barshad of Grantland criticized the singer's vocal performance, calling it "a complete afterthought". Scott Shelter of PopCrush commented on the songs composition, writing "The celebratory song boasts a light, breezy melody and lyrics about a couple who make love out of nothing at all." Scott went on to write about the instrumentation of "We Found Love", writing that the song incorporates electronic synths throughout the song, and that it "is danceable but feels much brighter than a typical club banger". Priya Elan of NME
also praised the songs composition and Rihanna's vocal performance, writing that Harris appears to be "channelling" production team Stargate
's "trancey keyboard work", which is apparent on one of Rihanna previous singles, "Only Girl (In the World)", but noted that the composition of "We Found Love" is in a different key
. With regard to Rihanna's vocal performance, Elan noted that the singer sounds "extremely relaxed" and that her vocals are "luxurious", and compared Rihanna's vocal performance to that of a non-single track from Loud, "Complicated".
"We Found Love" made its chart debut on the New Zealand Singles Charts
on September 26, 2011, at number 14, and song rose to number two in its second week on the chart. The song fell by one position to number three in its third week, however, in its fifth week it rose to number one. The song has since been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
, denoting shipments of 7,500 copies. In Australia, "We Found Love" debuted on the Australian Singles Chart
on October 9, 2011, at number three. In its second week on the chart, "We Found Love" fell to number four, but peaked at number two in its third week. On October 23, 2011, the song was certified two times Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
, denoting shipments of 140,000 copies.
chart on September 28, 2011, at number 16. "We Found Love" became the singer's second highest debut on the chart out of her thirty-one Hot 100 chart entries, with the highest being Rihanna's collaboration with Eminem
, "Love the Way You Lie
", which debuted at number two on July 10, 2010. The following week, "We Found Love" rose to number nine, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the shortest amount of time, in a time span of six years and four months, surpassing the record previously held by Madonna
, who managed to attain twenty top-ten singles in a time span of six years and nine months. In its third week on the chart, "We Found Love" rose from number nine to number seven on the Hot 100 and rose again to number six in its fourth week. In its fifth week on the chart, the song rose to number two, being barred by Adele
's "Someone Like You
". In its sixth week, "We Found Love" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving Rihanna her eleventh number-one single on the chart. With "We Found Love" becoming the singer's eleventh chart topper on the Hot 100, Rihanna has become only the seventh artist in the 53-year history of the chart to amass at least eleven number-one singles, behind The Beatles
(20), Mariah Carey
(18), Michael Jackson
(13), Madonna (12), The Supremes
(12) and tying with Whitney Houston
, who has also achieved eleven number-one singles. Additionally, Rihanna moves into third place, tied with Houston, for the female artist with the most number-one singles, behind Carey and Madonna.
"We Found Love" debuted at number seven on the US Hot Digital Songs
chart, with digital download sales of 117,000 after only four days according to Nielsen SoundScan. In its fifth week, the song rose to number one, with sales of 231,000 copies, giving Rihanna her eleventh number-one song on the chart, further extending her record. The song spent a second week at number one on the chart, with sales of 243,000 copies, bringing total sales to 1,057,000 copies sold, marking Rihanna's twentieth download to reach the million-selling milestone, extending her record for the most such downloads among women. "We Found Love" debuted at number 75 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, with fourteen million radio impressions; the song rose to number 39 the following week with thirty-three million impressions and became that week's greatest gainer. The song rose at number 23 in its fourth week on the chart with 58 million radio impressions, and rose again to number 11 in its fifth week, with 70 million radio impressions. On October 12, 2011, the song debuted at number 39 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and also debuted at number 21 on the Pop Songs
chart. It has reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart and as high as number seven on Pop Songs
. On November 16, 2011, "We Found Love" debuted at number 41 on the US Latin Pop Songs chart. The song debuted on the Canadian Hot 100
chart at number ten and rose to four the next week.
at number 12 on September 30, 2011. "We Found Love" also debuted on both the Flanders
and Wallonia regional charts of Belgium
on October 1, 2011, at numbers 14 and 23, respectively. In its second week on both charts, the song rose to number three in the Flanders region and number ten in the Wallonia region. "We Found Love" also debuted inside the top ten in Norway and The Netherlands, at numbers three and eight, respectively. In its second week on the chart, the song rose to number one in Norway. In France, the song debuted on the chart on September 29, 2011, at number 15 "We Found Love" debuted at number 46 in Spain and leaped to number 15 in its second week.
In the United Kingdom, "We Found Love" debuted at number one with 87,000 copies sold on the UK Singles Chart
, UK Dance Chart
and UK Digital Download Chart
on October 9, 2011, despite only having been released for four days. With "We Found Love" debuting atop the UK Singles Chart, the singer has set a record by becoming the first female solo artist to top the chart six times in five consecutive years, "having previously held pole position with 'Umbrella', 'Take A Bow', 'Run This Town', 'Only Girl (In The World)' and 'What's My Name' between 2007 and January this year [2011]", according to Digital Spy
. "We Found Love" stayed atop the chart for a second consecutive week on both the Singles Chart and Dance Chart, selling 106,553 copies. In its third week on the UK Singles Chart, the song retained its number-one position, selling 92,000 copies. In its fourth week on the chart, the song sold 85,453 copies and slipped to the number three position. With "We Found Love" selling 85,453 copies at number three, it marks the highest number-three position sales mark since The Darkness "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
", which sold 90,922 copies copies at number three in the last week of 2003. Total sales for "We Found Love" in the United Kingdom stood at 372,268 after 24 days. Despite falling to number three, the song attained its number one position for a fourth consecutive week on the UK Dance chart. The following week, "We Found Love" climbed to 2 before ultimately spending a fourth non-consecutive week at Number 1 the following week. The song clenched a fifth non-consecutive week on 20th November 2011, thus meaning Rihanna has now overtaken Adele as the artist to have spent the longest time at number one in 2011, with a total of six weeks between 'We Found Love' and her January release 'What's My Name?'.. The song also debuted at number one in Scotland on October 15, 2011.
In Germany "We Found Love" entered the singles' charts
at number one on October 28, 2011. It was the fourth number 1 hit for Rihanna in Germany. After being deposed for a week by Aura Dione
's Geronimo
the track rebounded to number one spending two more weeks at the top and becoming Rihanna's second longest running number one hit in Germany after Umbrella
. "We Found Love" has spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Irish Singles Charts.
, Northern Ireland
. The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas
, who had previously directed the videos for "Rude Boy
" (2010), "Rockstar 101" (2010) and the controversial "S&M
" (2011).
The video begins with a monologue about love and heartbreak by an unseen narrator
, fashion model Agyness Deyn
. Multiple scenes of Rihanna and her lover are intercut throughout the narration, depicting them in different love and hate situations with each other. The two are shown as completely enamored with each other while engaging in fun activities together, including going on rides in a fairground and eating in fast food restaurants. During the chorus, images of drugs
, various pills and dilated pupils are shown, while brief scenes of Rihanna and her boyfriend preparing to engage in sexual intercourse and their various stages of undress are shown. The chorus continues and the video abruptly cuts to Rihanna and other people at an outdoor rave
, dancing to music. Calvin Harris features as the DJ during this scene.
In the second chorus, Rihanna and her boyfriend are seen happily running amok in a supermarket, pushing each other in a shopping cart and spraying canned drinks at each other. This scene is interrupted when Rihanna and her boyfriend begin arguing with each other in a car; the video then progressively shows the couple experiencing mounting difficulties in their relationship. They eventually begin physically abusing one another. During the final chorus Rihanna can be seen vomiting what looks to be streamers; she is also seen passed out on the street while her boyfriend tries to revive her. Eventually, Rihanna decides to leave her boyfriend after finding him passed out on the floor of his apartment. The video ends with Rihanna curled up in the corner of a room, crying.
The video generated controversy for its depiction of violence and drug use, as well as for Rihanna's removal of her clothes during filming. One journalist wrote, "The song is probably one of the most talked about in the country following the Barbadian being told to 'find God' after running naked through an Irish farmers field." It was described as a "disgrace" by an anti-rape campaigner, and Christian commenters worried about the effects of the video and that "Rihanna is damaging the moral and self-worth of young impressionable teens."
(2011) in London
. She performed the song as last on the set-list, right after her hit single "Umbrella
". On November 17, 2011 Rihanna sang the song on first season of The X Factor USA
. The performance featured Rihanna wearing torn jeans and a bomber jacket with neon signs also present on the stage.
British alternative rock
band Coldplay
covered the song on October 27, 2011, during a performance at BBC Radio 1
's Live Lounge
. Jocelyn Vena of MTV News
called the performance "flawless", writing "Lead singer Chris Martin
's haunting vocals and the band's acoustic rendition, using drums, piano and guitar, play up the sadness of the track." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard magazine also noted that the band used "piano flourishes, a kick drum and a simple guitar lick to convey the song's romantic declaration", while making a ballad which was "reminiscent of Bruno Mars
emotional reworking of Katy Perry
's 'California Gurls
. Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone wrote: "It may surprise that their rendition is actually pretty good. Whereas Rihanna's version is a thumping rave anthem, Chris Martin and company transform it into a lovely piano ballad nearly indistinguishable from many of their own songs." A writer for The Hollywood Reporter said: "Martin's vocals blend with the piano for a slightly softer take on the tragic love story." Glee will cover the song.
Personnel
Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.
Barbadian people
Barbadians are people originating on the Caribbean island of Barbados whether they live there or in the Barbadian diaspora.Rihanna is by far the most popular Barbadian on the planet.-Diaspora:...
recording artist Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, from her sixth studio album Talk That Talk
Talk That Talk
Talk That Talk is the sixth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna and was released on November 18, 2011, through Def Jam Recordings. The lead single from the album, "We Found Love" featuring Calvin Harris, premiered on Capital FM radio on September 22, 2011, and was released on iTunes...
(2011). The song features Scottish singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...
. "We Found Love" was released as the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
from the album and premiered on September 22, 2011, in the United Kingdom on the Capital FM
The Capital FM Network
Capital is a radio network of nine Independent Local Radio stations in the United Kingdom which are owned and operated by Global Radio, launching on 3 January 2011. Capital was previously known as Mix, One, Galaxy and Hit Music at various times...
radio station and was made available to download on the same day. The song has met with mixed reviews from music critics
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, who praised the song's composition and Rihanna's vocal performance, however, some critics felt that the lyrical content was sparse and came second to Harris' production.
"We Found Love" reached number one in its sixth week on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 in the shortest amount of time and Harris his first number-one single. With the song becoming the singer's eleventh number one single, Rihanna has become only the seventh artist in the 53 year history of the chart to amass at least eleven number one singles, as well as tying her with Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
in third place for females with the most number one singles, behind only Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
(12) and Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
(18). The song has also peaked at 1 on both US Hot Dance Club Songs and Pop Songs
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
charts. Elsewhere, "We Found Love" peaked at number one in New Zealand, Denmark, France, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and has attained top-five positions in Australia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea.
The song's accompanying music video
We Found Love (video)
"We Found Love" is a music video for the song of the same name by Rihanna, directed by Melina Matsoukas.- Development :The music video for "We Found Love" was shot on September 26, 27 and 28, 2011, in County Down, Northern Ireland...
was directed by Melina Matsoukas
Melina Matsoukas
Melina Matsoukas is an American music video director.-Life and career:Matsoukas is of Greek, Jewish, Jamaican and Cuban descent. Both her name and surname are Greek: Μελίνα Ματσούκα. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and New York University...
and presents Rihanna's relationship with her boyfriend as being like a drug and how their addiction to each other results in the singer leaving her boyfriend because of his possessive nature. The video received a mixed response from critics, and they noted that the video strongly alludes to ex-boyfriend Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna.
Background
Following the release and success of Rihanna's previous studio album, LoudLoud (Rihanna album)
Loud is the fifth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, first released on November 12, 2010 by Def Jam Recordings. The album was recorded between February and August 2010, predominantly during Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour and filming for her first feature film Battleship...
(2010), the singer revealed via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that the album would be re-issued with new songs and released in Fall 2011, writing that "[t]he [Loud era] continues with more new music to add to [your] collection". In September 2011, Rihanna took to Twitter to confirm that plans for a re-issue of Loud had been scrapped, with the singer tweeting "I [thought about] a [re-release], but LOUD is its own body of work! Plus [you] guys work so [fucking] hard that [you] deserve to act brand new". On September 19, 2011, Rihanna further provoked excitement amongst her followers on twitter when the singer posted that she was listening to the song, only to be re-tweeted by Harris, who replied "Sometimes it feels like we find love in the most hopeless place", suggesting that his response contained possible lyrics from the song. In an interview with Capital FM radio, Harris explained that followers of Rihanna on twitter had sent messages to him regarding their expectations of the song, saying "The song better not be rubbish", which Harris interpreted as slightly threatening, but went on to say that "it's all part of the fun". "We Found Love" premiered in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2011, on Capital FM
The Capital FM Network
Capital is a radio network of nine Independent Local Radio stations in the United Kingdom which are owned and operated by Global Radio, launching on 3 January 2011. Capital was previously known as Mix, One, Galaxy and Hit Music at various times...
radio, and was sent for mainstream adds on October 11, 2011. The song was released via iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on September 22, 2011. The song was produced by Scottish singer-songwriter Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...
.
Artwork
The artwork for "We Found Love" was released by Rihanna's official FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page on September 22, 2011. Grady Smith of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s The Music Mix criticized the song's artwork, writing "'We found love in a hopeless place,' Rihanna repeats over a David Guetta-ish synth beat. But judging by the single cover, her place doesn't look too hopeless, does it? Maybe there's a building on fire outside the frame, and that fire hydrant doesn't work. I guess that would be hopeless." A reviewer for Sugar Magazine
Sugar Magazine
Sugar was a British magazine for teenage girls published by Hachette Filipacchi. Its content focused on boys, fashion, celebrities, real-life stories about teenagers and other similar matters. The editor, when it closed, was Annabel Brog. The brand lives on through the website Sugarscape, edited by...
wrote that "On anyone else this would be a pretty odd look but Rihanna somehow makes a denim overload look good". A reviewer for Neon Limelight commented that Rihanna appeared to be adopting a tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
image for the new project, writing, "She really is going for that sexy tomboy look this album era it seems; remember the laid back look she rocked on the single's cover art?".
Composition
"We Found Love" is a mid-tempo electro house and dance-popDance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
song. According to the digital music sheet published at musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of G♭ major with a beat of of 120 beats per minute
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
. Rihanna's vocal range in the song spans one Octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
, from the lower note of C♯4 to the higher note of C♯5.
Critical reception
The song was met with a mixed response by music critics, with the simplified lyrical content generally polarizing critics. A reviewer for InstinctInstinct (magazine)
Instinct is a monthly American magazine geared toward gay men, published by Instinct Publishing, Inc. since 1997. Distributed by Curtis Circulation...
magazine praised the song, writing "[it] boasts a higher-energy, peak-hour vibe." Michael Cragg of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
commented that the song is in the same vein as one of Rihanna's previous singles, "Only Girl (In the World)
Only Girl (In the World)
"Only Girl " is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud . The song was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 2010 through Def Jam. It was written by Crystal Johnson, Norwegian production duo Stargate and Sandy Vee, and produced by Stargate and Vee...
", with regard to its dance beat. Cragg also likened the song to Leona Lewis
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
's recent single, "Collide", but criticized the song's structure, writing "the song structure is slightly odd, with the first chorus almost being sidelined in favour of a large chunk of Harris's riff (that would explain the 'feat'), before they join on the second chorus." Glen Gamboa of Newsday also compared "We Found Love" to material by Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, whom Harris is known for collaborating with frequently. A reviewer for GlobalGrind commented about "We Found Love"s lyrics, suggesting that there is perhaps an underlying message in the song for ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, in the line "We found love in a hopeless place". This further raised suspicion when Brown re-tweeted one of Rihanna's tweets
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, which read "Sometimes it feels like we found love in the most hopeless place". Priya Elan of NME commented on "We Found Love" with regard to it being chosen as the lead single from the album, writing that it "breaks the mold" from previous lead singles from Rihanna's albums, because of the songs lack of shock factor that the singers previous lead singles have had, writing "By now it's pretty customary to have a jaw-on-the-floor reaction to the first single from a Rihanna album. 'Pon de Replay
Pon de Replay
"Pon de Replay" is a song recorded by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, from her debut studio album Music of the Sun . The song was made available to download via iTunes on August 26, 2005, released as the album's lead single. The song was written and produced by Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers and...
', 'SOS
SOS (Rihanna song)
"SOS" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her second studio album, A Girl like Me. The song was produced by J. R. Rotem and written by Rotem and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. It was released as the lead single from the album...
', 'Umbrella
Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, featuring a rap verse by Jay-Z. The song was written by The-Dream, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, and was produced by Stewart and The-Dream for Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad...
', 'Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (song)
"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R . The song premiered on radio stations on October 20, 2009 and was released as the album's lead single on October 26, 2009 through Def Jam Recordings. It was written and produced by...
', 'Only Girl (In the World)
Only Girl (In the World)
"Only Girl " is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud . The song was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 2010 through Def Jam. It was written by Crystal Johnson, Norwegian production duo Stargate and Sandy Vee, and produced by Stargate and Vee...
' ... is 'We Found Love' the first one to break the spell?". Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
was critical of the song, writing it is the "worst single of Rihanna's career", but noted that it would probably still do well commercially.
Amanda Dobbins of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine praised the composition of the song, writing "Harris's electro fingerprints are all over this one — it plays like a straight house track, with some dreamy Rihanna vocals added in over the beat." Robbie Daw of Idolator
Idolator (website)
Idolator is a music blog. Created by the blog network Gawker Media in August 2006, Idolator was later sold to rival blog network Buzz Media, which also owns music blog Stereogum. From the 2007 departure of original head writer Brian Raftery until November 2009, the blog's head writer was Maura...
commented on the song's lyrics, with particular emphasis on the line "We found love in a hopeless place", writing that it is possibly the best lyric in pop music so far in 2011. Glen Gamboa of Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
criticized the lack of lyrics in the song, but praised the songs composition, writing that it is a "club anthem song" which consists of Rihanna chanting "We found love in a hopeless place" throughout most of the song, which Gamboa described as “poignant and sweetly triumphant”. Gamboa went on to write that "We Found Love' is a more streamlined, mainstream version of dubstep, though it does keep some unique electronic loops and complicated rhythms." Leah Collins of The Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. It is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday...
praised Rihanna's vocal performance in the song, writing that the singer "smoothes out her vocals for this cut — dropping a 'Fly
Fly (Nicki Minaj song)
"Fly" is a song by Trinidadian recording artist Nicki Minaj featuring Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna. The track was produced by J.R. Rotem and co-produced by Kevin Hissink. The song is inspired by the emotion of soaring above and overcoming all stereotypes and negativity, only to have come out...
' coo instead of an 'Only Girl (In the World)
Only Girl (In the World)
"Only Girl " is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud . The song was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 2010 through Def Jam. It was written by Crystal Johnson, Norwegian production duo Stargate and Sandy Vee, and produced by Stargate and Vee...
' crow." However, Amos Barshad of Grantland criticized the singer's vocal performance, calling it "a complete afterthought". Scott Shelter of PopCrush commented on the songs composition, writing "The celebratory song boasts a light, breezy melody and lyrics about a couple who make love out of nothing at all." Scott went on to write about the instrumentation of "We Found Love", writing that the song incorporates electronic synths throughout the song, and that it "is danceable but feels much brighter than a typical club banger". Priya Elan of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
also praised the songs composition and Rihanna's vocal performance, writing that Harris appears to be "channelling" production team Stargate
Stargate (production team)
This is a list of songs written and produced by the Norwegian production team Stargate.-Produced singles:-1999:5ive - Invincible*05. "Two Sides to Every Story"*06. "You Make Me a Better Man"Noora Noor - Curious*01. "Curious"...
's "trancey keyboard work", which is apparent on one of Rihanna previous singles, "Only Girl (In the World)", but noted that the composition of "We Found Love" is in a different key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
. With regard to Rihanna's vocal performance, Elan noted that the singer sounds "extremely relaxed" and that her vocals are "luxurious", and compared Rihanna's vocal performance to that of a non-single track from Loud, "Complicated".
Australasia
"We Found Love" made its chart debut on the New Zealand Singles Charts
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
on September 26, 2011, at number 14, and song rose to number two in its second week on the chart. The song fell by one position to number three in its third week, however, in its fifth week it rose to number one. The song has since been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
, denoting shipments of 7,500 copies. In Australia, "We Found Love" debuted on the Australian Singles Chart
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
on October 9, 2011, at number three. In its second week on the chart, "We Found Love" fell to number four, but peaked at number two in its third week. On October 23, 2011, the song was certified two times Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
, denoting shipments of 140,000 copies.
North America
In the United States, the song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart on September 28, 2011, at number 16. "We Found Love" became the singer's second highest debut on the chart out of her thirty-one Hot 100 chart entries, with the highest being Rihanna's collaboration with Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, "Love the Way You Lie
Love the Way You Lie
"Love the Way You Lie" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his seventh studio album, Recovery . It was released as the album's second single on August 9, 2010, by Interscope-Geffen-A&M. The song features vocals by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. According to her, its theme...
", which debuted at number two on July 10, 2010. The following week, "We Found Love" rose to number nine, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the shortest amount of time, in a time span of six years and four months, surpassing the record previously held by Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, who managed to attain twenty top-ten singles in a time span of six years and nine months. In its third week on the chart, "We Found Love" rose from number nine to number seven on the Hot 100 and rose again to number six in its fourth week. In its fifth week on the chart, the song rose to number two, being barred by Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
's "Someone Like You
Someone Like You (Adele song)
"Someone Like You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Adele. Written by Adele and Dan Wilson for her second studio album 21, the song was inspired by a broken relationship of hers, and lyrically it speaks of Adele coming to terms with it...
". In its sixth week, "We Found Love" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving Rihanna her eleventh number-one single on the chart. With "We Found Love" becoming the singer's eleventh chart topper on the Hot 100, Rihanna has become only the seventh artist in the 53-year history of the chart to amass at least eleven number-one singles, behind The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
(20), Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
(18), Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
(13), Madonna (12), The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
(12) and tying with Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, who has also achieved eleven number-one singles. Additionally, Rihanna moves into third place, tied with Houston, for the female artist with the most number-one singles, behind Carey and Madonna.
"We Found Love" debuted at number seven on the US Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
chart, with digital download sales of 117,000 after only four days according to Nielsen SoundScan. In its fifth week, the song rose to number one, with sales of 231,000 copies, giving Rihanna her eleventh number-one song on the chart, further extending her record. The song spent a second week at number one on the chart, with sales of 243,000 copies, bringing total sales to 1,057,000 copies sold, marking Rihanna's twentieth download to reach the million-selling milestone, extending her record for the most such downloads among women. "We Found Love" debuted at number 75 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, with fourteen million radio impressions; the song rose to number 39 the following week with thirty-three million impressions and became that week's greatest gainer. The song rose at number 23 in its fourth week on the chart with 58 million radio impressions, and rose again to number 11 in its fifth week, with 70 million radio impressions. On October 12, 2011, the song debuted at number 39 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and also debuted at number 21 on the Pop Songs
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
chart. It has reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart and as high as number seven on Pop Songs
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
. On November 16, 2011, "We Found Love" debuted at number 41 on the US Latin Pop Songs chart. The song debuted on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
chart at number ten and rose to four the next week.
Europe
In Europe, the song debuted on the Danish Singles ChartTracklisten
Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl...
at number 12 on September 30, 2011. "We Found Love" also debuted on both the Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and Wallonia regional charts of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
on October 1, 2011, at numbers 14 and 23, respectively. In its second week on both charts, the song rose to number three in the Flanders region and number ten in the Wallonia region. "We Found Love" also debuted inside the top ten in Norway and The Netherlands, at numbers three and eight, respectively. In its second week on the chart, the song rose to number one in Norway. In France, the song debuted on the chart on September 29, 2011, at number 15 "We Found Love" debuted at number 46 in Spain and leaped to number 15 in its second week.
In the United Kingdom, "We Found Love" debuted at number one with 87,000 copies sold on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, UK Dance Chart
UK Dance Chart
The UK Dance Chart is a chart compiled by The Official Charts Company from sales in record stores and digital downloads. Although the chart does not currently receive any airplay on the radio or television, the chart can be viewed on the BBC Radio 1 and The Official Charts Company website.Digital...
and UK Digital Download Chart
UK Official Download Chart
The UK Official Download Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the music industry. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart being published on a Wednesday afternoon, so as to not to clash with the release of the main UK Singles Chart...
on October 9, 2011, despite only having been released for four days. With "We Found Love" debuting atop the UK Singles Chart, the singer has set a record by becoming the first female solo artist to top the chart six times in five consecutive years, "having previously held pole position with 'Umbrella', 'Take A Bow', 'Run This Town', 'Only Girl (In The World)' and 'What's My Name' between 2007 and January this year [2011]", according to Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
. "We Found Love" stayed atop the chart for a second consecutive week on both the Singles Chart and Dance Chart, selling 106,553 copies. In its third week on the UK Singles Chart, the song retained its number-one position, selling 92,000 copies. In its fourth week on the chart, the song sold 85,453 copies and slipped to the number three position. With "We Found Love" selling 85,453 copies at number three, it marks the highest number-three position sales mark since The Darkness "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
"Christmas Time " is a single released by The Darkness in the UK during December 2003, to fall in with the famous UK Christmas Number One Race.-Race for Christmas #1:...
", which sold 90,922 copies copies at number three in the last week of 2003. Total sales for "We Found Love" in the United Kingdom stood at 372,268 after 24 days. Despite falling to number three, the song attained its number one position for a fourth consecutive week on the UK Dance chart. The following week, "We Found Love" climbed to 2 before ultimately spending a fourth non-consecutive week at Number 1 the following week. The song clenched a fifth non-consecutive week on 20th November 2011, thus meaning Rihanna has now overtaken Adele as the artist to have spent the longest time at number one in 2011, with a total of six weeks between 'We Found Love' and her January release 'What's My Name?'.. The song also debuted at number one in Scotland on October 15, 2011.
In Germany "We Found Love" entered the singles' charts
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
at number one on October 28, 2011. It was the fourth number 1 hit for Rihanna in Germany. After being deposed for a week by Aura Dione
Aura Dione
Mariah Dione , professionally known as Aura Dione, is a Danish singer-songwriter of Faroese, Spanish, French and Danish origin. In 2008 she released her debut album, Columbine which as of 2011 has sold 100,000 copies worldwide...
's Geronimo
Geronimo (Aura Dione song)
"Geronimo" is a song by Danish singer-songwriter Aura Dione from her second studio album, Before the Dinosaurs. The song was released as the album's lead single on September 19, 2011. It was written by Aura Dione, David Jost, Joachim Persson, Ian O'Brien-Docker and Thomas Troelsen, and it was...
the track rebounded to number one spending two more weeks at the top and becoming Rihanna's second longest running number one hit in Germany after Umbrella
Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, featuring a rap verse by Jay-Z. The song was written by The-Dream, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, and was produced by Stewart and The-Dream for Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad...
. "We Found Love" has spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Irish Singles Charts.
Music video
The music video for "We Found Love" was shot in late September 2011, in County DownCounty Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas
Melina Matsoukas
Melina Matsoukas is an American music video director.-Life and career:Matsoukas is of Greek, Jewish, Jamaican and Cuban descent. Both her name and surname are Greek: Μελίνα Ματσούκα. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and New York University...
, who had previously directed the videos for "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
" (2010), "Rockstar 101" (2010) and the controversial "S&M
S&M (song)
"S&M" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fifth studio album, Loud . The song was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Corey Jackson Carter, Sandy Wilhelm and Ester Dean, with production helmed by Eriksen and Hermansen of Stargate and Sandy Wilhelm under her...
" (2011).
The video begins with a monologue about love and heartbreak by an unseen narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
, fashion model Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn is an English fashion model, actress and singer.-Early life:Deyn is from Failsworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester...
. Multiple scenes of Rihanna and her lover are intercut throughout the narration, depicting them in different love and hate situations with each other. The two are shown as completely enamored with each other while engaging in fun activities together, including going on rides in a fairground and eating in fast food restaurants. During the chorus, images of drugs
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, various pills and dilated pupils are shown, while brief scenes of Rihanna and her boyfriend preparing to engage in sexual intercourse and their various stages of undress are shown. The chorus continues and the video abruptly cuts to Rihanna and other people at an outdoor rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
, dancing to music. Calvin Harris features as the DJ during this scene.
In the second chorus, Rihanna and her boyfriend are seen happily running amok in a supermarket, pushing each other in a shopping cart and spraying canned drinks at each other. This scene is interrupted when Rihanna and her boyfriend begin arguing with each other in a car; the video then progressively shows the couple experiencing mounting difficulties in their relationship. They eventually begin physically abusing one another. During the final chorus Rihanna can be seen vomiting what looks to be streamers; she is also seen passed out on the street while her boyfriend tries to revive her. Eventually, Rihanna decides to leave her boyfriend after finding him passed out on the floor of his apartment. The video ends with Rihanna curled up in the corner of a room, crying.
The video generated controversy for its depiction of violence and drug use, as well as for Rihanna's removal of her clothes during filming. One journalist wrote, "The song is probably one of the most talked about in the country following the Barbadian being told to 'find God' after running naked through an Irish farmers field." It was described as a "disgrace" by an anti-rape campaigner, and Christian commenters worried about the effects of the video and that "Rihanna is damaging the moral and self-worth of young impressionable teens."
Live performances and cover versions
"We Found Love" was performed for first time on November 14, 2011 on one of Rihanna's concerts from the Loud TourLoud Tour
The Loud Tour is the fourth concert tour by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. Performing in over twenty countries in the Americas and Europe, the tour supports Rihanna’s fifth studio album, Loud...
(2011) in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She performed the song as last on the set-list, right after her hit single "Umbrella
Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, featuring a rap verse by Jay-Z. The song was written by The-Dream, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, and was produced by Stewart and The-Dream for Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad...
". On November 17, 2011 Rihanna sang the song on first season of The X Factor USA
The X Factor (U.S.)
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent. The show is produced by creator Simon Cowell's company SYCOtv. It premiered on September 21, 2011 on Fox....
. The performance featured Rihanna wearing torn jeans and a bomber jacket with neon signs also present on the stage.
British alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
covered the song on October 27, 2011, during a performance at BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
's Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...
. Jocelyn Vena of MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
called the performance "flawless", writing "Lead singer Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
's haunting vocals and the band's acoustic rendition, using drums, piano and guitar, play up the sadness of the track." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard magazine also noted that the band used "piano flourishes, a kick drum and a simple guitar lick to convey the song's romantic declaration", while making a ballad which was "reminiscent of Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
emotional reworking of Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
's 'California Gurls
California Gurls
"California Gurls" is an electropop song by American singer-songwriter Katy Perry and is the lead single of her third studio album, Teenage Dream. The song features rapper Snoop Dogg, and was produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Benny Blanco. According to Perry, the song is an answer song to...
. Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone wrote: "It may surprise that their rendition is actually pretty good. Whereas Rihanna's version is a thumping rave anthem, Chris Martin and company transform it into a lovely piano ballad nearly indistinguishable from many of their own songs." A writer for The Hollywood Reporter said: "Martin's vocals blend with the piano for a slightly softer take on the tragic love story." Glee will cover the song.
Track listing
-
- Digital download
- "We Found Love" – 3:35
-
- German CD single
- "We Found Love" (album version) – 3:36
- "We Found Love" (extended version) – 5:45
-
- iTunes remixes EP
- "We Found Love" (ChuckieChuckie (DJ)Chuckie, born Clyde Sergio Narain is a Dutch DJ and producer of Surinamese descent.-Biography:Chuckie grew up in Surinam and was influenced by the large number of musical genres of the country. When one of his friends started working as a DJ, his interest for DJing started at the age of thirteen...
Extended Remix) – 5:57 - "We Found Love" (Chuckie Dub) – 5:56
- "We Found Love" (CahillCahill (band)Cahill are a dance group, based in Liverpool, UK consisting of producers Anton Powers, Tim Condran and Scott Rosser. They are best known for their 2008 single, Trippin' On You, which features vocals from Nikki Belle.-Background:...
Edit) – 3:36 - "We Found Love" (Cahill Club) – 6:29
- "We Found Love" (Cahill Dub) – 5:58
- "We Found Love" (R3hab's XS Remix Edit) – 3:40
- "We Found Love" (R3hab's XS Extended Remix) – 5:26
- "We Found Love" (R3hab's XS Dub) – 5:26
Credits and personnel
Recording- Recorded at Fly Eye Studios, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Westlake Recording StudiosWestlake Recording StudiosWestlake Recording Studios is a well-known music recording studio in West Hollywood, CA.-History:The studio was founded as Westlake Audio in the early 1970s by Tom Hidley, and is credited as "one of the first big commercial efforts to produce acoustically standardised 'interchangeable' rooms"...
, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Personnel
- Calvin HarrisCalvin HarrisCalvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...
– songwriter, producer, recording, mixing and instrumentation - Marcos Tovar – vocal recording
- Alejandro Barajs – assistant recording engineer
- Phil Tan – mixing
- Damien Lewis – assistant mixing
Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.
Weekly charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... ) |
2 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... ) |
2 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... Flanders) |
3 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... Wallonia) |
2 |
| Brazil (Billboard Billboard Brasil Billboard Brasil is a monthly Brazilian magazine launched on October 10, 2009, with a print-run of over 40,000 copies. It is distributed nationwide by Brazil's biggest distributor Dinap... Hot 100 Brasil Hot 100 Airplay Brasil Hot 100 Airplay is the official music singles charts in Brazil. It has been compiled by Crowley Broadcast Analysis and published monthly by Billboard Brasil since the release of the magazine, in October 2009.... ) |
1 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... ) |
1 |
| Denmark (Tracklisten Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... ) |
1 |
| Finland (Finland's Official List) | 1 |
| France (SNEP) | 1 |
| Germany (Media Control Charts Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... ) |
1 |
| Ireland (IRMA IRMA IRMA may refer to:* Institute of Rural Management, Anand, a management school for rural development in the state of Gujarat, India* International Recording Media Association*International Rectal Microbicide Advocates... ) |
1 |
| Italy (FIMI) | 3 |
| Japan (Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... ) |
10 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... ) |
3 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ) | 1 |
| Norway (VG-lista VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... ) |
1 |
| Poland (ZPAV Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... ) |
5 |
| Poland (Video Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... ) |
1 |
| Russia (2M Digital Tracks Russian Music Charts The Russian Music Charts are Russian music industry standard popularity rankings compiled weekly by 2M and Tophit . Albums and tracks rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through retail data captured electronically each week from Russian music retailers... ) |
4 |
| Scotland (The Official Charts Company) | 1 |
| South Korea (Gaon Chart Gaon Chart The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts... ) |
2 |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE PROMUSICAE Spanish Music Producers is a trade group representing the Spanish recording industry... ) |
3 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... ) |
1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... ) |
1 |
| UK Dance (The Official Charts Company) | 1 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
1 |
| US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
29 |
| US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
1 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
64 |
| US Pop Songs Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
1 |
| US Latin Pop Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
19 |
| Venezuela Pop/Rock Songs (Record Report) | 2 |
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
2×Platinum |
| Denmark | IFPI | Gold |
| New Zealand | RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
Platinum |
| United Kingdom | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |
Radio and release history
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | September 22, 2011 | Radio premiere | Mercury Records Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal... |
| United States | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group... |
|
| Italy | Universal Music | ||
| Australia | |||
| France | |||
| Belgium | |||
| Canada | |||
| Denmark | |||
| Mexico | |||
| New Zealand | |||
| Norway | |||
| Netherlands | |||
| Spain | |||
| Sweden | |||
| Switzerland | |||
| Brazil | September 23, 2011 | ||
| United States | October 4, 2011 | Urban radio | Def Jam Recordings |
| United Kingdom | October 5, 2011 | Digital download | Mercury Records |
| Ireland | Universal Music | ||
| United States | October 11, 2011 | Mainstream and rhythmic radio | Def Jam Recordings |
| Germany | October 21, 2011 | CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s... |
Universal Music |
| Australia | November 8, 2011 | Digital Remix Single | Def Jam Recordings |
See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2011 (Canada)
- List of Danish number-one hits
- List of number-one hits of 2011 (France)
- List of number-one hits of 2011 (Germany)
- List of number-one singles and albums of 2011 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand)
- List of number-one songs in Norway in 2011
- List of number-one music videos of 2011 (Poland)
- List of number-one hits of 2011 (Scotland)
- List of number-one singles (Sweden)
- List of number-one hits of 2011 (Switzerland)
- List of number-one hits of 2011 (UK)
- List of UK Dance Chart number-one singles of 2011
- List of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles in 2011
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2011 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance singles of 2011 (U.S.)
- List of number-one digital songs of 2011 (U.S.)
- List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 2011 (U.S.)