It’s been years past, and yet I — along with others — still watch each Rihanna video, and consider: “Is THIS one about Chris Brown?… Is THIS one?”
I will say this: boxer/extremely hot model Dudley O’Shaughnessy stars in the “We Found Love” music video. And he looks suspiciously like Rihanna’s ex-Brown. And the two have a nasty fight in a car, alluding to the assault on Grammy night in 2009. Like Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie,” this clip, too, illustrates the cyclical and hurtful nature of love and possession.
It nods to Brown. But then, as the lyrics say, I’ve just “got to let it go.”
“We Found Love” on the whole is an uplifting tune, but its music video has the downward spiral and visual aesthetic of “Requiem for a Dream.” Addiction — to lust and drugs — sends Rihanna and her lover into a manic spin, of high points being met with the low with a crumbling ending that sends the pop singer crying into a corner.
One of the more poignant shots is the boyfriend pinning Rihanna down forcibly but almost playfully, tattooing the word “MINE” on the top of her frequently bared posterior. There’s also Rihanna lighting a fistful of cigarettes in O’Shaughnessy’s mouth, then letting him blow the smoke into her mouth. Both are oddly desperate visuals from Melina Matsoukas, who helmed other clips for the Bajan singer including campy “S&M,” M.I.A.-esque “Rude Boy” and military-styled “Hard.”
It makes me sad, and comfortable, and I like it. It cuts into the ease of this killer dancefloor-filler.
“We Found Love” features Calvin Harris, and is the first single from Rihanna’s forthcoming “Talk That Talk,” out on Nov. 18.