Continuing her proud tradition of killer music videos, Rihanna returns to lighthearted fare with an early Christmas present for her fans - premiering the video for her latest single "You Da One" online Friday. The 23-year-old Barbadian songstress goes beyond the typical pop video parameters by paying homage to the legendary 1971 Stanley Kubrick film "A Clockwork Orange."Released as the second single from her sixth studio album "Talk That Talk," "You Da One" is a mid-tempo pop and electropop song with elements of other musical genres, including dancehall and reggae, and it has simple lyrics talking about a comfortable relationship. The song starts in traditional Rihanna territory with building on a slow, skanking rhythm, expands with a starbursty chorus, then contracts nearly as quickly on a knotty, ratcheting middle, and also features a dubstep bridge before the final chorus.
This island-flavored tune finds Rihanna singing of good loving, and the Bajan singer told Ryan Seacrest that its message of the power of love is what attracted her to the tune. "This is one of those records, it becomes very addictive," she said on his KIIS FM radio show. "To me, it's very infectious: the more you listen to it, the more you want to listen to it. It had a reggae vibe, but it's a sweet little love letter. I love the record. It's kind of dirty, I love it."
The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas, and filmed on November in Northern Ireland. Mostly shot in black and white, the clip is a cut-up of styles and influences, with partly a photo shoot and a lyric video as lyrics are stamped across the screen and Rihanna's body. As the only person shown traipsing around a film, Rihanna gyrates her way through the 3:28 song and exudes sexuality, whether she's touching her bowler hat, strutting toward the camera with a pimp cane or draping herself over a giant ball. The result is simple, psychedelic, and totally brilliant.
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