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| Format = [[Music download|Digital download]], [[Compact Disc single|CD single]]
| Format = [[Music download|Digital download]], [[Compact Disc single|CD single]]
| Recorded = 2010;<br/>Roc the Mic Studios<br>([[New York City]], [[New York|NY]]);<br/>[[Westlake Recording Studios]],<br/>([[Los Angeles]], [[California|CA]])
| Recorded = 2010;<br/>Roc the Mic Studios<br>([[New York City]], [[New York|NY]]);<br/>[[Westlake Recording Studios]],<br/>([[Los Angeles]], [[California|CA]])
| Genre = [[Electronic music|Electro-]][[Contemporary R&B|R&B]], [[ska]], [[reggae]]
| Genre = [[Electronic music|Electro-]][[Contemporary R&B|R&B]]
| Length = {{Duration|m=4|s=24}}
| Length = {{Duration|m=4|s=24}}
| Label = [[Def Jam Recordings|Def Jam]]
| Label = [[Def Jam Recordings|Def Jam]]
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[[Category:Songs produced by Stargate]]
[[Category:Songs produced by Stargate]]
[[Category:Songs written by Stargate (production team)]]
[[Category:Songs written by Stargate (production team)]]
[[Category:Ska songs]]
[[Category:Reggae songs]]
[[Category:Contemporary R&B songs]]
[[Category:Contemporary R&B songs]]


Revision as of 11:14, 31 December 2010

"What's My Name?"
Song

"What's My Name?" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna taken from her fifth studio album, Loud. Featuring guest vocals from Canadian rapper Drake, the song was released as the second single from the album on October 29, 2010 through Def Jam Records (Universal Music). The electro-R&B song was produced by Norwegian production duo StarGate with strong reggae and ska beats. The duo also had a hand in writing the song along with Ester Dean, Traci Hale and Drake. "What's My Name?" impacted on Mainstream and Rhythmic radio stations in the United States from October 26, 2010.

Critics praised the song as some of Rihanna's best vocal work to date, for the romantic nature of the song and its sexual tones. There was some negative criticism towards Drake's lyrics which included a sexual innuendo about the square root of 69. The single was a commercial success, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 giving Rihanna her third number one single of 2010, as well as her eighth overall Hot 100 chart topper. It also became Drake's first ever number one single. "What's My Name?" was also particularly successful reaching the top five in France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and the United Kingdom.

An accompanying music video, directed by Philip Andelman, incorporates a romantic encounter between Rihanna and Drake in a grocery store along with romantic scenes between the pair and Rihanna walking through downtown Manhattan. "What's My Name?" was also promoted with live performances across both sides of the Atlantic, including Saturday Night Live in America and the series seven finale of The X Factor in the United Kingdom. Though the latter performance resulted in an investigation from the British media regulator (Ofcom) for the raunchy nature of Rihanna's outfit.

Background and composition

"What's My Name?" is mid-tempo[1] electro-R&B song,[2] produced by Norwegian producers, StarGate, who return Rihanna to the "Island-pop" of her early career with a backing track consisting of of "heavy reggae"[3] and ska beats[4] with synthesised organs.[3] Bill Lamb from about.com noted that prior to Rihanna's vocals, there is a build up from with "dreamy drum machine rhythms". Overall he described the backing track as "simple" and "atmospheric".[1] It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Traci Hale & Aubrey Graham and incorporates themes of "sex and romance".[5] In an interview with HitQuarters, Hale revealed that Dean was the one who invited her to get involved in writing "What's My Name?" and Loud. In the interview Hale said "my contribution was mostly lyrical, Ester did most of the melody. It’s really group effort though - so it’s hard to say the formula on some songs because Stargate does their part, Ester does her part, I put in what I put in - no one does just one thing." When asked what the inspiration behind the song was, she said "Oh love, love, love! And it’s sexy – it started as a real sexy track and then you put something sexy over it." Hale went on to credit the song's success as reigniting her career as a songwriter.[6] Jocelyn Vena from MTV described the vocal delivery and lyrical content of the song as "sassy".[5] Lamb as said that "lyrically, [What's My Name?] amounts to romantic, sexual sweet nothings".[1]

Hermansen said that the collaboration with Drake came about after Rihanna played him the finished record back stage somewhere. Rihanna told Billboard, in an interview, that she had been "attempting to team up for a while and that she wanted Drake's signature swagger for the track." She said "Drake is the hottest rapper out right now and we've always been trying to work together. He's the only person I thought could really understand the melody of the song, and the minute he heard it he said, 'I know exactly what I'm going to do. I love it.' And he did it like three days later." Rihanna called the collaboration "young and playful",[7] something which Stacy Anderson from Spin and Nick Levine of Digital Spy both picked up, when commenting on the sexual innuendos in the lyrics. In particular Anderson and Levine noted an algebra-based joke during Drake's guest vocal, where he says "The square root of 69 is 8 something, right / 'Cuz I been trying to work it out".[2][8] Megan Vick from Billboard noted that "Rihanna's lush vocal turn denotes a startling leap in maturity from previous singles".[3]

Critical reception

"What's My Name?" received mainly positive reviews for its romantic tone and sentiments. Thomas Conner from the Chicago Sun-Times neither praised nor criticised the song, but instead focussed on the steamy nature of the song. "[Rihanna] and panting duet partner Drake steam the recording studio windows as he raps a helpless play-by-play".[9] Bill Lamb from About.com gave the song a positive review, saying that "There it is, the chorus opens the track with "Oh na na...what's my name?" and the hook is firmly implanted. It's not long before Drake's added on rap kicks in with clever, sexy and romantic rhyming. Then the dreamy drum machine rhythms and Rihanna's vocals kick in again. This is a hit... "What's My Name?" is a good addition to that romantic evening playlist."[1] Jocelyn Vena from MTV praised the "song's chorus" and "Drake's verse".[5] Molly Lambert of Pitchfork Media praised Rihanna's performance saying that "On "What's My Name", Rihanna doesn't have to tell us how desirable she is – it is a given. There is never any doubt in her delivery that Rihanna really might as well be the only girl in the world".[10] Nick Levine from Digital Spy said " 'What's My Name?' is essentially the long, luxuriant lovemaking session to 'Rude Boy's hard'n'fast rut... it manages to stay classy even when Drake makes a dodgy joke about the 'square root of 69' and Rihanna delivers a not-so-coy reference to oral sex."[2] Megan Vick from Billboard said "As much as 'What's My Name' is a joint effort, Rihanna owns the song by delivering a more polished version of her pop persona."[3]

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 67 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for the chart week of October 30, 2010 and has steadily risen,[11] peaking in the top ten of the chart at number three.[12] The song debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 after being sent to mainstream radio.[13] and in the third week it jumped to number one, after being released digitally, becoming Rihanna's eighth number-one single on the chart and Drake's first.[14] It became the second consecutive single to reach number one from her fifth album, Loud although it reached the top spot before the first single, Only Girl (In the World).[15] In the same week, it entered the US Hot Digital Songs chart at number one with first week sales of 235,000. Rihanna became the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to have their first single go to number one after their second single ("Whats My Name" then "Only Girl"). Also, Rihanna became the first artist to score a trio of Hot 100 leaders in a year since she 2008, when she achieved the same feat with "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia" and featured vocals on T.I.'s "Live Your Life."[16] By its seventh week of digital release, the single crossed the one million mark.[17] It sold 343,000 downloads on Christmas week, bringing its total to 1,461,000 in the US.

Upon the release of Loud, "What's My Name?" charted on several charts thanks to strong digital saes. In Australia the song has charted at number 25.[18] It has also appeared in the top twenty in Sweden and Switzerland at number 20,[18] and within the top ten in Canada at number seven and in New Zealand at ten.[19] In Ireland, the song has currently peaked in the top twenty at number 14 on album downloads alone.[20] This can also be said for the United Kingdom as in the week of the Loud release, What's My Name? debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 18, respectively with no official single release due until January, 2010.[21] On 28 November 2010, the song reached its peak of number 10, becoming Drake's first top 10 hit in Britain and his second top 30 hit there behind "Find Your Love", which reached number 24 in July 2010. It also charted in the top five of the UK R&B Chart at number three.[22] On its second week in the chart, the single climbed to number 8 and number 2 on the singles and R&B chart respectively. On that week, "What's My Name" along with her other two singles "Only Girl (In the World)" and "Who's That Chick?" (with David Guetta) occupied 3 positions in top ten, making Rihanna only the fourth artist in UK chart history to do so. [23] The next week on December 12, 2010, it climbed 4 places on the UK Singles Chart to number 4 and on December 19, 2010 it climbed two places to number 2, only beaten by "When We Collide" by Matt Cardle. It also climbed to the number 1 spot on the UK R&B Chart on the same week.[24]

Music video

File:Rihanna Behind the Scenes of WMN.png
Rihanna pictured in one of the outfits for the video shoot of "What's My Name?" in downtown Manhattan

Rihanna shot the video for the song on September 26, 2010 in New York City with director Philip Andelman.[25] Parts of the video shot with Drake were filmed on October 27, 2010.[26] The music video premiered on November 12, 2010 on Rihanna's VEVO channel on YouTube.[27]

The video starts with different views from the city, then shifts to a store where Drake is speaking to the cashier. Rihanna enters, grabbing his attention. She smiles at him and walks towards a fridge and grabs a milk package. Drake follows her and his verse begins. He holds her hand as he raps his verse, the milk package falls from her hand as she holds his, thus spilling milk on the floor. When Drake's verse is over, Rihanna pushes him and walks away with a smile.

When Rihanna's verse starts, she is shown walking on the street and dancing. Views of people holding instruments and walking on the street are shown, in addition to scenes where Rihanna and Drake are in a bedroom together, flirting, talking and drinking champagne. The final scene shows Rihanna in an outdoor Reggae-inspired night party with the people previously shown are now playing instruments as Rihanna sings and dances. The video ends with Drake kissing Rihanna on her cheek in the bedroom. Some of the performers walking with instruments and seen later in the video performing with Rihanna while she sings were, Seth Faulk, who carried the silver snare drum, LeeAnet Noble, who carried and later played the African Djembe drum. LeeAnet also performed in the hit show "STOMP" NYC. William Johnson played bucket drums, he was also in the show "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk!"

Live performances

"What's My Name?" was performed for the first time (without Drake) on October 30, 2010, during Rihanna's stint on Saturday Night Live.[28][29] Her outfit for the performance (high-wasted daisy dukes and a bikini top) drew comparisons to an outfit worn by Rihanna's close friend, Katy Perry.[30] Then on November 15, prior to the album's release, Rihanna reprised her performance of the "What's My Name?" for MTV's The Seven, Live from Times Square, New York.[31] Just a day later, she performed the single again, this time on The Late Show with David Letterman.[32] On November 17, 2010 she was interview for and performed the song as part of her set list for her appearance on Good Morning America.[33] At the American Music Awards of 2010 on November 21, 2010, Rihanna performed a mini medley of her recent hits which included "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)", "Only Girl (In the World)" and concluded with "What's My Name?"[34] On December 11, 2010, Rihanna was invited back to series seven of The X Factor (for a second time this series), to perform "Unfaithful" with finalist Matt Cardle and a solo performance of "What's My name?".[35] The finale was watched by fifteen million viewers but attracted complaints, in the thousands, about Rihanna's choice of outfit and sexual performance.[36] Vivienne Patterson, director of Mediawatch UK, said "I don’t think it was suitable for a pre-watershed broadcast, I think that’s quite clear".[37] British media regulator, Ofcom, later confirmed that it had launched an investigation into the matter after four thousand complaints were registered regarding Rihanna and Christina Aguilera's appearances at the The X Factor finale.[38]

Track listing

  • Digital download[39]
  1. "What's My Name?" featuring Drake - 4:25
  1. "What's My Name?" (Low Sunday Up On It Extended) - 5:03
  2. "What's My Name?" (Low Sunday Up On It Instrumental) - 5:00
  3. "What's My Name?" (Kik Klap Mixshow) - 4:10
  4. "What's My Name?" (Original Version Clean) - 4:27

Personnel

Source:[41]

Charts and certifications

Radio dates and release history

See also

References

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  3. ^ a b c d Vick, Megan (2010-11-19). "Rihanna feat. Drake, "What's My Name"". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  4. ^ Anderson, Sara D (October 15, 2010). "Rihanna, 'What's My Name?' Remix Feat. Drake – New Song". Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c Vena, Jocelyn. "Rihanna and Drake Debut "What's My Name?": The Duo trade saucy come-ons on the uptempo Loud track". MTV. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  6. ^ Bouwman, Kimbel (2010-12-06). "Interview with Traci Hale". HitQuarters. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
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