S. Samuel
R&B singer Rihanna recently opened up about collaborating with Young Money's Nicki Minaj and how blown away she is by the rapper's writing skills.
Referencing their “Raining Men” collaboration off of her upcoming Loud album, Rihanna explained what stood out to her about Minaj’s writing style.
“You know, I worked with her before on [2009’s] Rated R and she was just writing me some really good ballads, and I couldn’t wait to work with her again and finally have her on my record,” Rihanna told Capital FM. “She has a great buzz and she has a ‘thing’ to her. She is a star and that’s why people love her. She’s also really entertaining with her visual as well as her lyrics, and she has a great melody. I’m really amazed that she can write like that. [Nicki] not only raps but she can write songs too…It was really easy actually. We were going back and forth with the texts on how we were going to get to do it because we were in two different places and had two opposite schedules.” (MTV)
Details on their collaboration hit the Internet last month.
The sexy siren teams up with her could-have-been tourmate Nicki Minaj for “Raining Men,” described as an uptempo record. “There isn’t much of a chorus, but the song features a variation of the popular children’s phrase ‘eenie meenie miney mo,'” writes Jared. Other highlights include the catchy “Cheers,” which samples Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You,” a naughty club banger called “S&M,” the second single “What’s My Name,” and the ballad “Fading Away,” which likely references her relationship with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. (Rap-Up)
In a past interview with FADER, Minaj said she had penned a song for Rihanna’s last album, Rated R.
“I am so territorial, that [from the start] I just felt like whatever I was gonna do I was gonna write it myself,” she says in the new FADER. “It’s my personal preference to always be in control of everything I do in life…This [Rihanna song] wasn’t supposed to come out in the world with Nicki Minaj on it. This was written for someone else, and I felt so f*cked up behind it. But I thought the beat was very different, and I wanted to write something for Rihanna that showed like, ‘I already shut that sh*t down.'” (Blogxilla)
According to reports, Rihanna’s new LP will come out this November.
Rihanna debuted “Only Girl (In the World),” the lead single from her new album, Loud, which is due out on November 16, via Ryan Seacrest’s radio show. The song, which displays a Euro pop flair, marks a new sonic direction for Rihanna, whose icy vocal dominate the thumping beat. (Artist Direct)
Check out some recent Rihanna footage down below:
