Take A Bow - Rihanna

ALL TIME GREATEST SINGLES - #975

TAKE A BOW

Rihanna

(T.E. Hermansen, M. Eriksen, S. Smith)

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Chart Entry: 12th May, 2008

Highest Position: #3

Accreditation: Platinum

Points: 103,463

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

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The "Reloaded" Good Girl Gone Bad album turned out to be quite a little money spinner for Rihanna as "Take A Bow" bulleted into the Australian Top Ten just as three other tracks from the original release had done. The follow up single, "Disturbia", followed suite, and by the time the whole campaign had finished, Rihanna had clocked up five Top Ten singles, including two #1's, and a worldwide sales total of 7 million copies. It was the album that saw Rihanna cement herself in the A-list of music royalty, giving that "Queen of Pop" tag a little tug.

Rihanna's career has been built around selecting the hottest writing teams around to provide her with enough hits to rival even Madonna. "Take A Bow" was yet another hit for the Stargate team of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, who collaborated with Ne-Yo on the track. Stargate came into prominence during the late 90's after producing a couple of big hits for S Club 7, continuing their success for some of the biggest British acts such as Billie Piper, Blue and Hear'Say. A lull in their success saw the team concentrate on American acts such as Beyonce, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo, and soon the team was once again the hottest production team in the business.

The guys hit a goldmine when Rihanna joined in on the action, her first hit with them, "Unfaithful", hitting #2 on the Australian charts in 2006. Since then, Rihanna and Stargate could almost release a Greatest Hits compilation of their own as the two forces have collaborated on four #1 hits during her ever increasing successful career.

Of course, with so many hits coming out of the Stargate factory, it was only a matter of time that the critical knockers would have their say, exposing "Take A Bow" as a carbon copy of an earlier hit they produced with Beyonce, "Irreplaceable". It was also criticised that such a "standard" track would be the first release from the rejuvenated Good Girl Gone Bad album, many feeling "Disturbia" would have been a better choice, and more deserved of a higher level of success after stalling in the charts and paling in comparison to "Take A Bow".

But, with all the nitpicking surrounding Rihanna's success, there would have been little time for the Barbadian singer to notice what was going on around her anyway. In just three years since the success of "Take A Bow", she has released another three albums that have spawned an amazing amount of hits. Each single becomes just another needle in the haystack of Rihanna hits, making her quite simply, the biggest star in the world today.

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Chart Run: 30.13.10.6.5.6.4.3.4.4.7.8.9.13.17.21.24.27.30.34.42.48.60.61.76.83.77.

84.93.98.96.--.--.96.100 (33 weeks) ARIA Top 100

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)