We Found Love (video)
Encyclopedia
"We Found Love" is a music video
for the song of the same name
by Rihanna
, directed by Melina Matsoukas
.
, Northern Ireland
. The video was shot in a field in the town of Bangor, County Down
, ahead of Rihanna embarking on the European leg of the Loud Tour
and was directed by Melina Matsoukas
, who had previously directed the videos for "Rude Boy
" (2010), and the controversial "S&M
" (2011). During filming, a number of residents driving around the location of the set called the BBC
to inform them that traffic in the area was congested, due to drivers trying to catch a glimpse of the singer. Pictures of Rihanna leaked onto the internet the same day, which featured Rihanna wearing "a red bandana top, long flannel shirt, and dirty denim", reminiscent of the song's artwork, with additional scenes of the singer wearing "an American flag bikini, denim vest, and ripped jeans". The owner of the field, Alan Graham, expressed distaste with regard to Rihanna exposing her breasts on his field, and asked the crew to stop filming, saying "When the filming did become to my mind unacceptable I requested the filming to stop ... it became apparent to me that the situation was becoming inappropriate and I requested them to stop and they did". As the farmer requested that shooting of the video be halted, the shoot location was moved to a closed set in Titanic Quarter, Belfast
, on September 28, 2011, where the video's filming was continued, without photographers or fans being allowed to see any of what was being shot.
It was reported that extras
were not told about what was expected of them until a very short time period beforehand, in order to keep the content of the video as secret as possible. Rap-Up
reported that the video was reminiscent of the lead single from Rihanna's previous album Loud, "Only Girl (In the World)
", which also featured Rihanna in the state of nature in a number of scenes including fields and hillsides. With regard to the video's content, Rihanna posted a message on her twitter account writing "I really can't stop thinking about this video we just shot! EASILY the BEST video I've done thus far!" Rihanna further elaborated upon the concept of the video, saying "We've never done a video like this before. This is probably one of the deepest videos I've ever done ... its all about love and love being like a drug, you definitely get that from this." The male love interest in the video is model and former boxer Dudley O'Shaughnessy. Upon the release of the video, Matsoukas explained the content of the video in an interview with MTV
:
Also in the interview, the director went on to explain the content with regard to Rihanna's domestic violence experience, saying that it is not a reenactment of the singer's past experience, but rather that Rihanna is acting in the video, saying:
, fashion model Agyness Deyn
: "It's like you're screaming but no one can hear. You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important, that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless, like nothing can save you. And when it's over and it's gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so you can have the good." Multiple scenes of Rihanna and her lover are intercut throughout the narration, depicting them in different situations with each other. The intercut scenes feature the couple in both love and hate scenarios. Before the audio of the song starts, lightning bolts are projected onto a wall that Rihanna is standing in front of. As the first verse starts, Rihanna and her lover are once again shown in a multitude of different scenarios, depicting them 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 outside rave
, dancing to music. Calvin Harris features as the DJ during this scene. As the second chorus begins, 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 angrily with each other while they are in a car; the video then progressively shows the couple experiencing mounting difficulties in their relationship. The couple eventually begin physically abusing one another, possibly due to the heavy drug abuse. It is during the final chorus that Rihanna is seen vomiting streamers; she is also seen passed out on the street while her boyfriend tries to revive her. After apparently having enough, 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.
in the form of films. As noted by James Montgomery of MTV, "We Found Love" incorporates the main themes of sex
, drugs
and violence
, which feature heavily in films by independent filmmaker Gregg Araki
. Several of Araki's films, including Totally Fucked Up
(1993), The Doom Generation
(1995) and Nowhere
(1997) all strongly depict scenes of a sexual nature, drug use and violent activities as part of their narrative
, which feature prominently throughout "We Found Love". "We Found Love"s use of vibrant colors and imagery is also reminiscent of Oliver Stone
s Natural Born Killers
(1994); the film is about "a pair of murderers, Mickey and Mallory, on a killing spree throughout the American Southwest" which incorporates "nightmarish-colors" and rear wall projected imagery, which us used frequently in "We Found Love". As noted by multiple music critics, the video features multiple effects which resemble those presented in Darren Aronofsky
s Requiem for a Dream (2000). The film incorporates the use of a close-up shot
of a dilated pupil, an effect which is used multiple times in "We Found Love".
exhalations into each others mouth, which is stylistically reminiscent of the album cover on English musician Tricky
's Blowback
(2001), which also shows two people engaging in blowing smoke into one and others mouth. The video also garnered comparisons to Britney Spears
' "Everytime
" (2004), due to how Rihanna is shown laying in a bathtub, and submerging her head under the water, which could be interpreted by the viewer as being a failed suicide attempt
. In the video for "Everytime", Spears is presented as being a successful singer who is constantly hounded by the media and Paparazzi
about her turbulent relationship with her boyfriend, which displays Spears being shown drowning in a bathtub as a result of a successful drug overdose. The video also bares resemblances with Eminem
s "Love the Way You Lie
", on which Rihanna appears as a featured artist. The similarities presented between the videos for "We Found Love" and "Love the Way You Lie" are that both contain lyrical and visual content about a "doomed" relationship, in addition to scenes of graphic violence and substance abuse. Like "We Found Love", "Love the Way You Lie" also features scenes of the two pairs of lovers, in their respective videos, in various stages of undress and intimacy. The singers video also features stylistic references to Madonna
s "Ray of Light
" (1998) video, which features "a whole lot of high-speed, time-lapse shots taken in cities around the world"; the same technique is used for the drug scenes in "We Found Love".
praised the production of the video, noting that it has a cinematic feel to it, showing the "ins and outs [and] ups and downs" of love and compared the video in its entirety to the film Blue Valentine
, due to its sexualized content and narrative consisting of a couple who have a turbulent relationship with one another. Erika Ramirez of Billboard
magazine called the video "artful" and "poignant" in her review, and added that the video shows "neon colors, explicit sex, bathtub embraces and painful arguments of the couple's world". Jocelyn Vena of MTV
commented that although the song itself is upbeat and carefree, the video represents the antithesis, depicting "a dark look at love and substance abuse". Vena, alike Coplan, also noted that the song has a cinematic feel, calling it a "mini-movie", and similar Ramirez, also compared the video to the films Trainspotting
and Requiem for a Dream, with regard to its opening monologue, which Vena thought "foreshadow[ed]" the video.
Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone
also found "the footage looks like a remake of Trainspotting, writing "[We Found Love] matches its thumping rave beat to footage that often looks like a remake of Trainspotting". Amanda Dobbins of New York
magazine was more critical of the video, commenting that the controversy of Rihanna taking off her clothes in a farmers field "is the least of its provocations", listing the activities the couple partake in: "smoking, drinking, dancing on fast-food tables, dancing at raves, heavy petting, stealing groceries, drunk wheelies, and bathing while fully clothed [and] candy-colored drugs". Dobbins noted that the list of illicit and frowned upon activities may once again aggravate parents and committees because of the explicit nature of the video, which caused controversy for Rihanna in her video's for "S&M
" and "Man Down
". Also of New York magazine, Charlotte Cowles commented that the voice-over provided by Deyn at the start of the video sounds "incredibly depressing".
Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
described the video as "a Trainspotting-meets-Drugstore Cowboy
portrait of wasted youth and finding love in an apparently very pharmaceutical place". Greenblatt continued her review in a more negative manner, asking "But does it paint a too-glamorous portrait of crazy, stupid love for her young fans? Or is it RiRi's prerogative to push the boundaries of dilated pupils, couch sex, and how many cigarettes two people can conceivably smoke simultaneously?" Jamie Lewis of the International Business Times
noted that the video is likely to cause controversy amongst different groups of the public due to the "multitude of illicit and illegal acts", and condoned the activities that the singer appeared to be partaking in, writing "Rihanna can be seen swallowing unmarked pills, smoking what looks like marijuana, publically stripping, stealing goods and vandalising". Lewis also described the opinions of fans who had posted messages to Rihanna's official Twitter
and YouTube
accounts, with one fan praising the song, writing "cant stop watching @rihanna's [sic] we found love video, its by far her best yet!", whilst another slated the video, "Really [Rihanna] you call that love? I used to like some of your music but this video is just disgusting I'm sorry to tell. Seems a bad 90's documentary about drugs ... I'm 20 years old and I found it inappropriate. Sorry."
organization which helps victims of rape, sexual abuse
and other forms of sexual violence
, criticized the video for "We Found Love", labeling it as "a disgrace". Eileen Kelly, a representative of anti-rape group, stated that the video "[sends] out an inappropriate message" and complained to The Daily Star with her concerns, saying "Rihanna's new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases". The video also came under fire from Brandon Ward, a youth pastor
of Oasis Christian Center in Staten Island
, New York, who also criticized the video for being immoral, saying "Rihanna is damaging the moral and self-worth of young impressionable teens". Ward continued to give an analysis as to why the video is immorally unjust and how it does not conform with Christian
beliefs and morals, saying,
John Colonnello, another youth pastor from Athens, Alabama
, also negatively commented about the video, as well as slating Rihanna for not being a role model to the young girls and women in society who look up to the singer, saying "I believe the image that Rihanna portrays in her videos is not good for young girls and for teens that look up to her. She is promoting that it is all about your physical body and how you look and she is promoting (unhealthy) sex ... the message should be that it's about who you are on the inside and your character. That you should be honest, trustworthy, faithful, kind, loving, compassionate and more." The negative reaction to the video is the third by Rihanna in 2011 to be criticized by various organizations, the first being "S&M
" in February 2011, which was banned from eleven countries around the world due to it's explicit sexual content, as well as "Man Down
" in July 2011, which attracted media attention when the Parents Television Council
(PTC), a non-profit organization that advocates responsible entertainment, criticized Rihanna for "cold, calculated execution of murder" in the video and for portraying a scenario of rape.
Rihanna also attracted criticism from the Ulster Cancer Foundation, an anti-smoking campaign organization, for smoking in the music video. The organization also criticized the singer's provocative promotional pictures for Talk That Talk
(2011), which feature Rihanna sitting on a sidewalk whilst smoking. Doreen Reegan, a spokesperson for the organization, commented on the singer's decision to include smoking as part of her promotional image, saying:
On November 23, 2011, the music video for "We Found Love" was banned from being broadcast before 10pm in France. The reasons for the ban are cited to be due to the video's violent, dangerous and suggestive nature.
. Chris Doplan of Consequence of Sound and Jocelyn Vena of MTV both commented that the male love interest, O'Shaughnessy, strongly resembled Brown in his appearance. Amanda Dobbins of New York magazine concurred with Doplan, noting the resemblance between Brown and O'Shaughnessy, even writing that the latter has short blonde hair like the former once had. Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine also thought that O'Shaughnessy is a depiction of Brown, especially in relation to the scene which features the couple in a car, with O'Shaughnessy driving recklessly and Rihanna begging him to stop. William Goodman of Spin
provided an analysis of the content of the video with regard to the Brown comparisons. First, as with many reviewers of the video, he noted the obvious resemblance between Brown and O'Shaughnessy, writing "The clip stars a dead ringer for Brown, complete with dyed hair and bulging biceps". Goodman continued to comment on the video's opening narration by Deyn which appears to be about Brown, "The video opens with a Agyness Deyn
voice-over that warns, 'You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important. No one will ever understand how much it hurts ... you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back, so that you have the good." In conclusion, Goodman commented on the inclusion of the car scene altercation, which is reminiscent of the assault on the evening of the Grammy Awards, where Rihanna was subjected to physical assault in a car by Brown, writing "In one scene, during a heated argument between the couple in a muscle car, the Brown look-alike gives the Barbadian beauty a slap on the face. Convinced yet?"
' "Criminal
", which was released two days before "We Found Love", on October 17, 2011. Among the similarities, critics noted that they were both filmed in the United Kingdom and arose controversy in the country; both contain scenes of sex, violence and crime; both feature bad boy archetypes and both evoke the personal lives of the artists. It was noted by St Asaph that although most pop stars release videos that draw from their personal lives, they do not make the viewer uncomfortable. The same cannot be said for Spears and Rihanna, and it does not matter if they themselves have moved on from past situations, because the discussion around them has not. St Asaph also expressed that neither Spears or Rihanna said much about the parallels to their lives, but that they do not need to: their videos are much more effective than anything they could reveal in an interview. Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly also compared it to "We Found Love", saying that both videos feature an anti-British sentiment
. She wrote that all the villains in the video – her boyfriend and the policemen – are British, whereas her savior in the video is an American criminal. Alexandra noted that Spears and Rihanna chose to film their "grittiest videos" in a country with a lower crime rate than the United States, that is also so against guns that politicians felt the need to talk about it. According to her, the videos continue with a xenophobic portrayal of British people as villains by American pop culture.
Song credits
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the song of the same name
We Found Love
"We Found Love" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, from her sixth studio album Talk That Talk . 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...
by 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...
, 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...
.
Development
The music video for "We Found Love" was shot on September 26, 27 and 28, 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 shot in a field in the town of Bangor, County Down
Bangor, County Down
Bangor is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a seaside resort on the southern side of Belfast Lough and within the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Bangor Marina is one of the largest in Ireland, and holds Blue Flag status...
, ahead of Rihanna embarking on the European leg of the Loud Tour
Loud 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...
and 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), 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). During filming, a number of residents driving around the location of the set called the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to inform them that traffic in the area was congested, due to drivers trying to catch a glimpse of the singer. Pictures of Rihanna leaked onto the internet the same day, which featured Rihanna wearing "a red bandana top, long flannel shirt, and dirty denim", reminiscent of the song's artwork, with additional scenes of the singer wearing "an American flag bikini, denim vest, and ripped jeans". The owner of the field, Alan Graham, expressed distaste with regard to Rihanna exposing her breasts on his field, and asked the crew to stop filming, saying "When the filming did become to my mind unacceptable I requested the filming to stop ... it became apparent to me that the situation was becoming inappropriate and I requested them to stop and they did". As the farmer requested that shooting of the video be halted, the shoot location was moved to a closed set in Titanic Quarter, Belfast
Titanic Quarter, Belfast
The Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland is a waterfront regeneration project, including apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and a major Titanic-themed attraction under development on reclaimed land in Belfast Harbour, known until recently as Queen's Island...
, on September 28, 2011, where the video's filming was continued, without photographers or fans being allowed to see any of what was being shot.
It was reported that extras
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
were not told about what was expected of them until a very short time period beforehand, in order to keep the content of the video as secret as possible. Rap-Up
Rap-Up
Rap-Up is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the hip hop and R&B aspect of the music industry, and...
reported that the video was reminiscent of the lead single from Rihanna's previous album Loud, "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...
", which also featured Rihanna in the state of nature in a number of scenes including fields and hillsides. With regard to the video's content, Rihanna posted a message on her twitter account writing "I really can't stop thinking about this video we just shot! EASILY the BEST video I've done thus far!" Rihanna further elaborated upon the concept of the video, saying "We've never done a video like this before. This is probably one of the deepest videos I've ever done ... its all about love and love being like a drug, you definitely get that from this." The male love interest in the video is model and former boxer Dudley O'Shaughnessy. Upon the release of the video, Matsoukas explained the content of the video in an interview with MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
:
We love, obviously, to do provocative imagery ... we always try to definitely push the limits ... I think because, in the end, it's not really at all about domestic violence. It's really just about it being toxic, and they're on this drug trip and that definitely plays a part, but I think it's also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It's not trying to glorify that type of relationship. The bad parts of it, that's what you don't want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life. The drugs and the addiction and the toxic — that's what brings her downfall and brings a lot of harm.
Also in the interview, the director went on to explain the content with regard to Rihanna's domestic violence experience, saying that it is not a reenactment of the singer's past experience, but rather that Rihanna is acting in the video, saying:
[The song's] totally rave-y ... and that's the feeling, just music rushing over you, and then I started thinking about drugs and addiction and love and how that's an addiction ... we've all lived the ups and downs of being in a toxic relationship. It's really about the obstacles of trying to let it go, but at the same time how great it makes you feel, so it's hard to let it go. Again, it goes back to a story that we all can relate to ... It's not Rihanna's story; it's her story in the video, and she's acting. But everybody's [as well]. Obviously, there's a lot of comparisons to her real life, and that's not at all the intention. It's just that I guess people naturally go there because art imitates life, and it's a story we all relate to and we've all experienced. Like, it's based on my life; it's based on her life; it's based on your life, like, everybody.
Synopsis
The video begins with a monologue given about love and heartbreak by an unseen narratorNarrator
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...
: "It's like you're screaming but no one can hear. You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important, that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless, like nothing can save you. And when it's over and it's gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so you can have the good." Multiple scenes of Rihanna and her lover are intercut throughout the narration, depicting them in different situations with each other. The intercut scenes feature the couple in both love and hate scenarios. Before the audio of the song starts, lightning bolts are projected onto a wall that Rihanna is standing in front of. As the first verse starts, Rihanna and her lover are once again shown in a multitude of different scenarios, depicting them 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 outside 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. As the second chorus begins, 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 angrily with each other while they are in a car; the video then progressively shows the couple experiencing mounting difficulties in their relationship. The couple eventually begin physically abusing one another, possibly due to the heavy drug abuse. It is during the final chorus that Rihanna is seen vomiting streamers; she is also seen passed out on the street while her boyfriend tries to revive her. After apparently having enough, 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.
Film
The video for "We Found Love" features several references to popular culturePopular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
in the form of films. As noted by James Montgomery of MTV, "We Found Love" incorporates the main themes of sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, drugs
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
and violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, which feature heavily in films by independent filmmaker Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
. Several of Araki's films, including Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki...
(1993), The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995) and Nowhere
Nowhere (film)
Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous....
(1997) all strongly depict scenes of a sexual nature, drug use and violent activities as part of their narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
, which feature prominently throughout "We Found Love". "We Found Love"s use of vibrant colors and imagery is also reminiscent of Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
s Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
(1994); the film is about "a pair of murderers, Mickey and Mallory, on a killing spree throughout the American Southwest" which incorporates "nightmarish-colors" and rear wall projected imagery, which us used frequently in "We Found Love". As noted by multiple music critics, the video features multiple effects which resemble those presented in Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
s Requiem for a Dream (2000). The film incorporates the use of a close-up shot
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...
of a dilated pupil, an effect which is used multiple times in "We Found Love".
Music
The video also features multiple popular culture references to other artists in the music industry. "We Found Love" shows Rihanna and O'Shaughnessy blowing marajuanaCannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
exhalations into each others mouth, which is stylistically reminiscent of the album cover on English musician Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
's Blowback
Blowback (album)
Blowback is the sixth album by Tricky, released in 2001. Like Nearly God, Blowback contains several collaborations, but the album's sound is much brighter and more relaxed by comparison. Tricky himself said that he wanted to get airplay with this album, while most of his earlier albums were made to...
(2001), which also shows two people engaging in blowing smoke into one and others mouth. The video also garnered comparisons to Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
' "Everytime
Everytime
"Everytime" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on May 17, 2004, by Jive Records as the third single from the album. After Spears ended her relationship with pop singer Justin Timberlake, she made friends with her backing...
" (2004), due to how Rihanna is shown laying in a bathtub, and submerging her head under the water, which could be interpreted by the viewer as being a failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....
. In the video for "Everytime", Spears is presented as being a successful singer who is constantly hounded by the media and Paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
about her turbulent relationship with her boyfriend, which displays Spears being shown drowning in a bathtub as a result of a successful drug overdose. The video also bares resemblances 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...
s "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...
", on which Rihanna appears as a featured artist. The similarities presented between the videos for "We Found Love" and "Love the Way You Lie" are that both contain lyrical and visual content about a "doomed" relationship, in addition to scenes of graphic violence and substance abuse. Like "We Found Love", "Love the Way You Lie" also features scenes of the two pairs of lovers, in their respective videos, in various stages of undress and intimacy. The singers video also features stylistic references to 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...
s "Ray of Light
Ray of Light (song)
A high-speed electronic dance song, "Ray of Light" has received stylistic comparisons to rave, psychedelic and acid music. The track contains strong techno elements, as well as disco, trance and Eurodance influences, and it sees Madonna deepen her dance roots and go for a more electronic sound...
" (1998) video, which features "a whole lot of high-speed, time-lapse shots taken in cities around the world"; the same technique is used for the drug scenes in "We Found Love".
Release and reception
The video for "We Found Love" premiered on the website Whosay.com on October 19, 2011. The music video met with a mixed response from critics, with some praising its cinematic feel, whilst others criticized the glorification of drug taking and its side effects. Chris Coplan of Consequence of SoundConsequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound, also known often as CoS, is a Chicago-based music website featuring news, album and concert reviews, and editorials. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook micro-site, which serves as an on-line database for music festival news and rumors...
praised the production of the video, noting that it has a cinematic feel to it, showing the "ins and outs [and] ups and downs" of love and compared the video in its entirety to the film Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine (film)
Blue Valentine is a 2010 romantic drama film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance. The film premiered in competition at the 26th Sundance Film Festival. Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis wrote the film, and Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling played the lead roles...
, due to its sexualized content and narrative consisting of a couple who have a turbulent relationship with one another. Erika Ramirez of 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...
magazine called the video "artful" and "poignant" in her review, and added that the video shows "neon colors, explicit sex, bathtub embraces and painful arguments of the couple's world". Jocelyn Vena of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
commented that although the song itself is upbeat and carefree, the video represents the antithesis, depicting "a dark look at love and substance abuse". Vena, alike Coplan, also noted that the song has a cinematic feel, calling it a "mini-movie", and similar Ramirez, also compared the video to the films Trainspotting
Trainspotting (film)
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...
and Requiem for a Dream, with regard to its opening monologue, which Vena thought "foreshadow[ed]" the video.
Matthew Perpetua 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...
also found "the footage looks like a remake of Trainspotting, writing "[We Found Love] matches its thumping rave beat to footage that often looks like a remake of Trainspotting". 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 was more critical of the video, commenting that the controversy of Rihanna taking off her clothes in a farmers field "is the least of its provocations", listing the activities the couple partake in: "smoking, drinking, dancing on fast-food tables, dancing at raves, heavy petting, stealing groceries, drunk wheelies, and bathing while fully clothed [and] candy-colored drugs". Dobbins noted that the list of illicit and frowned upon activities may once again aggravate parents and committees because of the explicit nature of the video, which caused controversy for Rihanna in her video's for "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...
" and "Man Down
Man Down
"Man Down" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fifth studio album Loud . The song was sent to US rhythmic and urban radios on May 3, 2011 and was released as the album's sixth overall single in the United States as well as in certain countries internationally...
". Also of New York magazine, Charlotte Cowles commented that the voice-over provided by Deyn at the start of the video sounds "incredibly depressing".
Leah Greenblatt 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...
described the video as "a Trainspotting-meets-Drugstore Cowboy
Drugstore Cowboy
Drugstore Cowboy is a 1989 crime drama directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Van Sant and Daniel Yost, based on a novel by James Fogle. Matt Dillon stars in the title role, and Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and William S. Burroughs are also featured. Drugstore Cowboy was filmed mainly around...
portrait of wasted youth and finding love in an apparently very pharmaceutical place". Greenblatt continued her review in a more negative manner, asking "But does it paint a too-glamorous portrait of crazy, stupid love for her young fans? Or is it RiRi's prerogative to push the boundaries of dilated pupils, couch sex, and how many cigarettes two people can conceivably smoke simultaneously?" Jamie Lewis of the International Business Times
International Business Times
The International Business Times is an online global business newspaper, published in 17 editions in 10 languages across 13 countries. The publication, sometimes called IBTimes, offers news, analysis and editorial commentary on business and business related stories...
noted that the video is likely to cause controversy amongst different groups of the public due to the "multitude of illicit and illegal acts", and condoned the activities that the singer appeared to be partaking in, writing "Rihanna can be seen swallowing unmarked pills, smoking what looks like marijuana, publically stripping, stealing goods and vandalising". Lewis also described the opinions of fans who had posted messages to Rihanna's official 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...
and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
accounts, with one fan praising the song, writing "cant stop watching @rihanna's [sic] we found love video, its by far her best yet!", whilst another slated the video, "Really [Rihanna] you call that love? I used to like some of your music but this video is just disgusting I'm sorry to tell. Seems a bad 90's documentary about drugs ... I'm 20 years old and I found it inappropriate. Sorry."
Controversy
The Rape Crisis Centre in the UK, an anti-rapeRape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
organization which helps victims of rape, sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
and other forms of sexual violence
Sexual violence
Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, although in most countries there has been little research conducted on the problem. Due to the private nature of sexual violence, estimating the extent of the problem is difficult...
, criticized the video for "We Found Love", labeling it as "a disgrace". Eileen Kelly, a representative of anti-rape group, stated that the video "[sends] out an inappropriate message" and complained to The Daily Star with her concerns, saying "Rihanna's new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases". The video also came under fire from Brandon Ward, a youth pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
of Oasis Christian Center in Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, New York, who also criticized the video for being immoral, saying "Rihanna is damaging the moral and self-worth of young impressionable teens". Ward continued to give an analysis as to why the video is immorally unjust and how it does not conform with Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
beliefs and morals, saying,
The real issue is that it moves the moral center more towards the obscene. That it becomes more normal to be more sexually promiscuous, because they are bombarded with imagery that is loaded with innuendo, and that is seen as normal, even preferred ... if girls and women find their identity and self-worth in the approval of people, they will do whatever it takes to become popular and loved. When stars like Rihanna, who blast sexuality, are thrust into the limelight, girls tend to think that is the way for them to be valuable. God tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made ... bearing His image. Rihanna is selling a lie.
John Colonnello, another youth pastor from Athens, Alabama
Athens, Alabama
Athens is a city in Limestone County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 18,967. According to the 2009 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 24,234...
, also negatively commented about the video, as well as slating Rihanna for not being a role model to the young girls and women in society who look up to the singer, saying "I believe the image that Rihanna portrays in her videos is not good for young girls and for teens that look up to her. She is promoting that it is all about your physical body and how you look and she is promoting (unhealthy) sex ... the message should be that it's about who you are on the inside and your character. That you should be honest, trustworthy, faithful, kind, loving, compassionate and more." The negative reaction to the video is the third by Rihanna in 2011 to be criticized by various organizations, the first being "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...
" in February 2011, which was banned from eleven countries around the world due to it's explicit sexual content, as well as "Man Down
Man Down
"Man Down" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fifth studio album Loud . The song was sent to US rhythmic and urban radios on May 3, 2011 and was released as the album's sixth overall single in the United States as well as in certain countries internationally...
" in July 2011, which attracted media attention when the Parents Television Council
Parents Television Council
The Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...
(PTC), a non-profit organization that advocates responsible entertainment, criticized Rihanna for "cold, calculated execution of murder" in the video and for portraying a scenario of rape.
Rihanna also attracted criticism from the Ulster Cancer Foundation, an anti-smoking campaign organization, for smoking in the music video. The organization also criticized the singer's provocative promotional pictures for 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), which feature Rihanna sitting on a sidewalk whilst smoking. Doreen Reegan, a spokesperson for the organization, commented on the singer's decision to include smoking as part of her promotional image, saying:
Three-quarters of adult smokers start the habit as teenagers, which is why it is so irresponsible of Rihanna to influence her young fan base in this way ... After so much hype around the filming of the video it was very disappointing to see Rihanna so blatantly smoking throughout it ... Artists such as Rihanna are held in high esteem and regarded as role models by millions of young people.
On November 23, 2011, the music video for "We Found Love" was banned from being broadcast before 10pm in France. The reasons for the ban are cited to be due to the video's violent, dangerous and suggestive nature.
Chris Brown
Upon the release of the video, multiple critics commented on the uncanny resemblance between the physical appearance of Rihanna's ex-boyfriend Chris Brown and featured love interest Dudley O'Shaughnessy, as well as how the video's content appeared to be somewhat of a reenactment of the assault between Rihanna and Brown on the evening of the 2009 Grammy Awards51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
. Chris Doplan of Consequence of Sound and Jocelyn Vena of MTV both commented that the male love interest, O'Shaughnessy, strongly resembled Brown in his appearance. Amanda Dobbins of New York magazine concurred with Doplan, noting the resemblance between Brown and O'Shaughnessy, even writing that the latter has short blonde hair like the former once had. Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine also thought that O'Shaughnessy is a depiction of Brown, especially in relation to the scene which features the couple in a car, with O'Shaughnessy driving recklessly and Rihanna begging him to stop. William Goodman of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
provided an analysis of the content of the video with regard to the Brown comparisons. First, as with many reviewers of the video, he noted the obvious resemblance between Brown and O'Shaughnessy, writing "The clip stars a dead ringer for Brown, complete with dyed hair and bulging biceps". Goodman continued to comment on the video's opening narration by Deyn which appears to be about Brown, "The video opens with a 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...
voice-over that warns, 'You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important. No one will ever understand how much it hurts ... you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back, so that you have the good." In conclusion, Goodman commented on the inclusion of the car scene altercation, which is reminiscent of the assault on the evening of the Grammy Awards, where Rihanna was subjected to physical assault in a car by Brown, writing "In one scene, during a heated argument between the couple in a muscle car, the Brown look-alike gives the Barbadian beauty a slap on the face. Convinced yet?"
Britney Spears' "Criminal"
The video also received comparisons to Britney SpearsBritney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
' "Criminal
Criminal (Britney Spears song)
"Criminal" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. The Radio Mix of the song was released as the fourth single from the album. "Criminal" was written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, with additional writing by Tiffany Amber...
", which was released two days before "We Found Love", on October 17, 2011. Among the similarities, critics noted that they were both filmed in the United Kingdom and arose controversy in the country; both contain scenes of sex, violence and crime; both feature bad boy archetypes and both evoke the personal lives of the artists. It was noted by St Asaph that although most pop stars release videos that draw from their personal lives, they do not make the viewer uncomfortable. The same cannot be said for Spears and Rihanna, and it does not matter if they themselves have moved on from past situations, because the discussion around them has not. St Asaph also expressed that neither Spears or Rihanna said much about the parallels to their lives, but that they do not need to: their videos are much more effective than anything they could reveal in an interview. Rae Alexandra of the SF Weekly also compared it to "We Found Love", saying that both videos feature an anti-British sentiment
Anti-British sentiment
Anti-British sentiment is prejudice, fear or hatred against the British Government, the culture or the people of the United Kingdom, or its Overseas territories.-Argentina:...
. She wrote that all the villains in the video – her boyfriend and the policemen – are British, whereas her savior in the video is an American criminal. Alexandra noted that Spears and Rihanna chose to film their "grittiest videos" in a country with a lower crime rate than the United States, that is also so against guns that politicians felt the need to talk about it. According to her, the videos continue with a xenophobic portrayal of British people as villains by American pop culture.
Credits
Video credits- Agyness DeynAgyness DeynAgyness Deyn is an English fashion model, actress and singer.-Early life:Deyn is from Failsworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester...
– narration - 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"...
– cameo appearance - Dudley O'Shaughnessy – starring role
- RihannaRihannaRobyn 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...
– starring role - Melina MatsoukasMelina MatsoukasMelina 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...
– director
Song credits
- Calvin Harris – songwriter, producer, recording, mixing and instrumentation
- Marcos Tovar – vocal recording
- Alejandro Barajs – assistant recording engineer
- Phil Tan – mixing
- Damien Lewis – assistant mixing
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| 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 |