Rihanna Displays All In Her New Music Video For ‘Needed Me’
It’s 4/20, which means all the weed smokers come out and smoke tons of weed. (Or stay in and smoke tons of weed.)
Some things do happen on 4/20, despite the sedated and lethargic mood weed normally puts people in. Speaking of which—the things happening, not the lethargic mood— Rihanna just dropped a new visual for her track titled “Needed Me” from her 2016 record, ANTI. And, let me just say, it’s NSFW.
Happy 420, look out for Needed Me TODAY at NOON EST. pic.twitter.com/J5XYHQrout
— Rihanna (@rihanna) April 20, 2016
Rihanna, quite literally, bares everything in this music video. Save for a thong, Rihanna is completely naked. (I’m not going to lie, a sight I’ve wanted to see for a while. Sue me.) Draped in a light-blue, utterly see-through garment and not much else, RiRi parades around a house full of ceiling-tall windows facing a large body of ocean. (I guess she wants the world to witness her sexuality. You go, girl!)
Needed Me???? pic.twitter.com/o1vyIfr9yB
— RebelleRihanna.com (@RihannaFrance) April 20, 2016
Directed by Harmony Korine, the man behind 2013’s controversial film Spring Breakers, “Needed Me” looks like a cut right out that film. It’s bold, lewd, and violent — all crammed inside a neat little three-minute package. There are shots of weed smoke. There are shots of masked men and old women with guns. There are shots of expensive cars, probably Lambos, with their butterfly doors up. And, of course, there are shots of scantily clad women dancing in strip clubs, with money raining on them.
Interestingly, the whole music video is in slow motion, as if time slowed down. (Which is most likely what happened, considering Rihanna is strutting around damn-near fully naked.) Although the video seems innocuous enough, with a naked RiRi and all, she clearly ain’t playing no games: she has a silenced, silver pistol in her hands. She’s ready to do business, and the business gets dealt by the end of the video’s runtime. She enters a club to find a man (her man?) enjoying a private show. Staring him down in seeming disgust, she fires on him. He reaches for his pistol, but she ends him long before he could do anything. I guess everyone is carrying a pistol these days.
Earlier this year, Rihanna released her first single from her album, ANTI, titled “Work” featuring “Hotling Bling” artist, Drake. A little less risqué than “Needed Me”—but just as sexual—”Work” saw Rihanna dancing in a club with a crowd of people grinding in slow-motion. (You see there’s a theme here.) Drizzy enters the track wearing a sweatshirt with his signature “OVO” branding, rapping to and grinding with a smiling RiRi. Interestingly, this wasn’t the only visual for this track; she also released a video of her dancing in front of Drake, who is seated on what looks like an extremely comfy couch. On her Vevo, she dropped a seven-minute video featuring both versions of the music video. No more than a few weeks ago, Rihanna dropped a video for her second single titled “Kiss It Better.” Shot in a monochrome aesthetic, “Kiss It Better” is reminiscent of Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love”: both artists writhe in some kind of lascivious frenzy, seemingly begging for some kind of sexual interaction. It also seems RiRi is a big fan of the #FreeTheNipple movement: much like her “Work” video (the second version), she lets the nipple loose in “Kiss It Better.” The theme continues to her “Needed Me” visual as well. (And, you know, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Get it, Rihanna.)
You can watch the video above. Just make sure your woman isn’t around.
[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
