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Revision as of 18:35, 6 December 2009

"Russian Roulette"
Song

"Russian Roulette" is a song performed by singer Rihanna.[4] Written by Ne-Yo and also produced by himself and Chuck Harmony, the song serves as the lead single from Rihanna's fourth studio album Rated R.[1][3][5][4] It premiered on radio October 20, 2009.[6]

Background

On October 15, Rihanna posted on her official website the phrase "The Wait Is Ova. Nov 23 09".[7] This led to much speculation as to whether she is releasing a new album on this date, and if this was to be its title.[7] On October 16, 2009, a countdown timer was placed on the website in anticipation of her new single release.[8] On October 20, Rihanna's official website released the full clip of "Russian Roulette".

Ne-Yo said Rihanna requested the song’s somber vibe. "She wanted to be dark, but not just dark for the sake of being dark," he told MTV News. "Dark with kind of a meaning, dark with some kind of thing to it." Ne-Yo called the track "my first ventures off into the fictitious," as he explained how he came up with the haunting Russian roulette theme, unique because it tells a fictional and very theatrical story rather than simply being a metaphor about love.

Critical reception

Upon release, "Russian Roulette" received positive reviews for Rihanna's vocal performance and choice of lyrics. Todd Martens of Los Angeles Times commented particularly on 'Rihanna's command performance' citing it "A midtempo song without overbearing production, the single belongs all to Rihanna, and she makes the best of it – a bit icy, a tad fearless, with the vocal strength to keep the orchestral flourishes at bay."[9] MTV News stated "it retains the same sort of attitude and atmosphere that has made Rihanna such a definitive artist." MTV Newsroom followed with a poll resulting quite favorably as "83 percent of the people (poll sample) we talked to gave "Russian Roulette" the thumbs-up"[10] E! declared it "a surefire hit."[11] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly said that Rihanna took some risks with this track and they "absolutely pay off", he commented on the fact that "Rihanna is in fine vocal form throughout, and Ne-Yo’s songwriting is economical and evocative per usual".[12] Popjustice described the song as "brilliant", selecting it as their song of the day on an unprecedented two occasions.[13]

Chart performance

The song debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at #100 on October 29, 2009 and gained it's peak 2 weeks later at #9, becoming Rihanna's twelfth top ten hit. Rihanna’s 12 Hot 100 top 10s place her second among female acts this decade, trailing only Beyoncé’s 13 top 10s since 2000. It also debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and peaked at 49. It made its debut at Number 36 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Songs and climbed to Number 23 the next week. At 56 it made its debut on the U.S. Billboard Radio songs and the following week it climbed to Number 36.[14] "Russian Roulette" made a huge jump on the November 21, 2009 edition of the American Top 40, jumping 17 spots to #22 from #39, where the song debuted. It has also peaked at #9 on the Canadian Hot 100. It debuted on the Czech Airplay Chart at 44, Dutch Top 40 at 38, Italian Singles Chart at 9,[15] New Zealand Singles Chart at 19 and Norwegian Singles Chart at 2 on November 9, 2009. The song debuted in Australia at #11 on the ARIA Singles Charts on the week of November 16, 2009, making it her eleventh top twenty entry in Australia.[16] "Russian Roulette" entered the UK Singles Chart at #6 on November 29, 2009, giving Rihanna her 9th Top 10 hit in the country. On all of the charts that the song has appeared, Russian Roulette is in the top twenty, reaching the top ten in 18 of 20 charts it has appeared.

Music video

The director of the video is Anthony Mandler. Filming of "Russian Roulette" started on October 23, 2009. Filming took two full days.[17][18]. The video for "Russian Roulette" premiered on November 13, 2009 on ABC's 20/20.

Jesse Williams is the lead man in the music video as Jesse revealed in an interview with E! in late October. The video features Rihanna in a series of distressing situations, including what appears to be a gas chamber, a game of Russian Roulette, a vehicular assault, an underwater shooting and a torture chamber. It involves gun play and underwater scenes in which Rihanna is pierced by bullets, her blood clouding as her body contorts. There are her shadowy tormentors, who keep her locked away and subject her to all sorts of torture including gassing her with red smoke and setting a cat on her. There are scenes of her twisting and pawing in a padded cell. At one point, she is mowed down by a speeding car. Through all of this however, she survives and her partner is killed in the Russian Roulette game.[19]

The official video has received over 1 million views in just 24 days on YouTube.[20]

Live performances

Rihanna first performed the song at a Nokia event supporting the album. She also performed the song on The X Factor on November 29, 2009.[21] Also, she has performed the song live on Good Morning America's Fall Concert Series on November 24, 2009.

Track listing

Promo CD single / German 2-Track[22]
  1. "Russian Roulette" (Main) — 3:48
  2. "Russian Roulette" (Instrumental) — 3:48

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[23] 7
Austrian Singles Chart[24] 2
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[25] 5
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)[25] 3
Canadian Hot 100[26] 9
Danish Singles Chart[27] 6
Dutch Top 40[28] 13
European Hot 100[29] 2
Finnish Singles Chart[30] 4
French Digital Singles Chart[31] 3
German Singles Chart[32] 2
Irish Singles Chart[33] 9
Italian Singles Chart[34] 9
New Zealand Singles Chart[35] 9
Norwegian Singles Chart[36] 1
Polish Airplay Chart[37] 5
Spanish Singles Chart[38] 11
Swedish Singles Chart[39] 4
Swiss Singles Chart[40] 2
UK Singles Chart[41] 6
UK R&B Chart 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[42] 9



Preceded by
"Sometimes" by Donkeyboy
 Norwegian Singles Chart number one single
November 21, 2009 		Succeeded by
"Sometimes" by Donkeyboy

Release history

Country Date Label Format
Worldwide October 20, 2009[6] Universal Music Radio
United States October 27, 2009[43] Def Jam Recordings Radio
November 3, 2009[44] Digital download
Germany November 13, 2009[45] CD single
United Kingdom November 23, 2009[46] Mercury

References

  1. ^ a b "Rihanna reveals new single, 'Russian Roulette'". Los Angeles Times. News Corporation. October 20, 2009.
  2. ^ Guha, Rohin (October 21, 2009). "Rihanna's "Russian Roulette": The Perfect Comeback". BlackBook Magazine. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Rihanna's New Album Is 'Rated R'". Billboard.com. October 20, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Rihanna Teams With Ne-Yo For Ominous "Rated R" Single "Russian Roulette"". Rolling Stone. October 20, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  5. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (October 21, 2009). "Rihanna May Have Released 'Russian Roulette' For 'Shock Value,' Producer Says". MTV. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Cochrane, Greg (October 20, 2009). "Rihanna track gets worldwide premiere". BBC. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Is Rihanna Releasing A New Album On November 23?". MTV. October 13, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
  8. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (October 19, 2009). "Is Rihanna Releasing A New Single Tomorrow?". MTV. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
  9. ^ Martens, Todd (October 20, 2009). "Rihanna reveals new single, 'Russian Roulette'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  10. ^ "Is Rihanna's 'Russian Roulette' A Keeper? The Oh Snap! Poll » MTV Newsroom". Newsroom.mtv.com. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  11. ^ "Rihanna Pulls the Trigger on New Single - E! Online". Ca.eonline.com. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  12. ^ Charlie, Hollywood (2010-09-22). "The Truth Behind Rihanna's "Extreme" Album Cover". Heyman Hustle - Crave Online. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
  13. ^ "Popjustice". Popjustice. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  14. ^ "Russian Roulette - Rihanna". Billboard. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  15. ^ "FIMI - Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana - Classifiche". Fimi.it. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  16. ^ "ARIA Charts Chartifacts Nov 16 2009". aria charts. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
  17. ^ "RIHANNA: Videos". Rihannanow.com. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  18. ^ "Tracklisting: Rihanna – 'Rated R'". Rap-Up.com. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  19. ^ "Rihanna's 'Russian Roulette' Video: Dark Arts". MTV. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  20. ^ "Rihanna - Russian Roulette". YouTube. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  21. ^ "Rihanna has 'X Factor'". Yahoo Music. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  22. ^ "Russian Roulette (2-Track): Rihanna: Amazon.de: Musik". Amazon.de. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  23. ^ "Top 50 Singles Chart - ARIA Charts". ARIA Charts. 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  24. ^ "oe3.ORF.at / Woche 47 / 2009". Charts.orf.at. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  25. ^ a b "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2009-12-01. Cite error: The named reference "Ultratop" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  26. ^ "Canadian Hot 100". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  27. ^ "hitlisten.nu". hitlisten.nu. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  28. ^ "Top 40 | Hitlijst | Radio 538 = 102 FM". Radio538.nl. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  29. ^ [1]
  30. ^ Suomen virallinen lista
  31. ^ http://www.disqueenfrance.com/fr/page-260585.xml?cid=318871
  32. ^ ""Gute Reise" von Ich + Ich startet auf Platz eins der Album-Charts - media control". Media-control.de. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  33. ^ ">> IRMA << Irish Charts - Singles, Albums & Compilations >>". Irma.ie. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  34. ^ Steffen Hung (2009-11-19). "Italian charts portal". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  35. ^ "New Zealand Singles Chart: Chart #1694". RIANZ. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  36. ^ "Ukens singleliste - VG-lista. Offisielle hitlister fra og med 1958". Lista.vg.no. 2006-06-01. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  37. ^ "Nielsen Music Poland". Nielsen Music Poland. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  38. ^ Steffen Hung. "Rihanna - Russian Roulette". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  39. ^ "RIHANNA - RUSSIAN ROULETTE (SONG)". swedishcharts.com. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Unknown parameter |http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret= ignored (help)
  40. ^ "SWISS CHARTS - SINGLES TOP 100 22.11.2009". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  41. ^ "Radio 1 - BBC Radio 1's Chart Show with Reggie Yates - The Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart". BBC. 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  42. ^ "Hard - Jeezy - Billboard.com". Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  43. ^ "®R&R :: Going For Adds™ :: CHR/Top 40". Radio & Records.
  44. ^ "iTunes Store". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  45. ^ "Rihanna - Produktdetails - Russian Roulette - (CD Single)". Rihanna.de. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  46. ^ "hmv.com: music: Russian Rouletter (2009)". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |pulisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
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