Disturbia - Rihanna

ALL TIME GREATEST SINGLES - #995

DISTURBIA

Rihanna

(R. Allen, A. Merritt, C. Brown, B. Kennedy) Def Jam 06025 1787139

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Chart Entry: 7th July, 2008

Highest Position: #6

Accreditation: Platinum

Points: 102,435

From the album "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded".

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"Disturbia" set out to be added to Chris Brown's ever-growing list of hits, written by his team, the Graffiti Artistz, but another track written at the same time called "Forever" took preference when promoting his re-packaged Exclusive album. Chris wasn't too keen on releasing the song himself, anyway, feeling the song was better suited to a female singer, and so the song was given to his girlfriend, Rihanna, for her own re-packaged Good Girl Gone Bad album.

On the outside, "Disturbia" held themes of confusion, anguish and anxiety, but underneath Rihanna was sometimes interpreted as a frightened pop star, a victim of her own fame. Given the very public fallout of her relationship with Chris Brown just around the corner, there seemed to be some eventual truth to this, however, Rihanna later stated that the song wasn't about any specific experience, but could be adapted to any number of personal disruptions.

Rihanna's star was burning bright all throughout 2007 and 2008 with the Good Girl Gone Bad album, "Disturbia" the seventh hit from an album that had already boasted two #1 singles, "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop The Music". The single became Rihanna's ninth top ten from eleven chart entries, and if that wasn't enough Rihanna for you, her duet with Maroon 5 peaked at #11 and a featured vocal on T.I.'s "Live Your Life" saw her once again hit the Top 3. That was enough Rihanna for one year, thank you.

Rihanna was often viewed as a pop puppet in the music industry, rarely contributing any songwriting to her albums (Good Girl Gone Bad featured zero songwriting credits from her), but "Disturbia" was still the sound of Rihanna taking firm control over her own career, demanding the release of a single for the first time. Her short but lucrative career quickly developed her the knack to recognise a hit, and "Disturbia" certainly was one of her most appealing and enduring tracks, only strengthened since by a string of textbook pop songs that have followed from another three albums, but unfortunately all bigger hits anyway.

That real life "Disturbia" took over Rihanna's life when she cancelled her performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards. It was later found that after an altercation, Chris Brown was charged with assault and criminal threats to his girlfriend. Disturbing photos of a visibly beaten Rihanna emerged to the media prompting "Rihanna's Law", a move to "deter employees of law enforcement agencies from releasing photos or information that exploits crime victims". Rihanna and Chris Brown's collaboration began and ended with "Disturbia", the singer ordered to stay away from Rihanna at a distance of fifty yards unless at public events where the distance was reduced to ten. So, a live duet is still not out of the question, with a wide enough stage, of course.

Good Girl Gone Bad gave Rihanna her first Grammy Award in 2008 when "Umbrella" took out Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and "Disturbia" continued her Grammy's glow in 2009, nominated for Best Dance Recording, but losing to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". However, "Disturbia" made it on to many high profile "best of" lists for the year, including a #2 placing on Time's "10 Best Songs of Summer", and named the #11 best single of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine.

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Chart Run: 69.81.78.35.22.17.11.9.8.7.6.6.8.8.9.11.13.15.16.18.23.27.35.34.35.35.

38.39.48.50.60.65.52.65.63.66.69.77.78.83.92 (41 weeks)

Jody Den Broader - Radio Edit: (9th February, 2009) 67 (1 week)

(ARIA Top 100)