Rihanna - Disturbia

The song was originally written by Chris Brown and his team known as the Graffiti Artizts and was considered for the re-release of his album Exclusive. However, Brown felt that the song would be better suited for a female singer. He then forwarded the song to Rihanna. Def Jam had considered saving the track for Rihanna’s next album in 2009, because she had already recorded “Take a Bow” for the re-release of Good Girl Gone Bad. However, Rihanna and her team felt that the song was a summer single and needed to be recorded and released as soon as possible. The decision was finally made to release the song as the follow up to “Take a Bow”.

The video for Disturbia was filmed in late June 2008. The “Disturbia” video, available for $1.49, will be exclusive on iTunes for a 48 hour period. The video will debut on MTV’s TRL and BET’s 106 and Park on Thursday, July 24th and on VH1 on Saturday, July 26th. It is directed by Anthony Mandler.

The edgy video begins with Rihanna spinning in a chair, followed by a scene where she is trapped in a cage, wearing a short blonde wig and catlike light blue contact lenses which cover her scleras entirely. There are additional scenes of her on a throne-like chair covered in chains, flanked by two dancers. When the chorus begins, Rihanna is lifted into the air by her dancers in front of a bright light. Throughout this portion of the video, there are shots of her on a table wearing heavy black eye make up and dancing inside a bed frame.

Then, Rihanna is shown leaning against a wooden post, her arms bound to a pole and her face and shoulders covered in dirt; followed by a scene where she is laying on a sofa with a mannequin. There are then shots of her in a small room, her arms stuck inside holes in the wall as a tarantula crawls onto her shoulder. During the breakdown of the song, Rihanna is shown in a concrete room with a low ceiling, sitting in a chair while her arms and legs are chained to the floor. The video then ends in the same atmosphere it began. The video was released to iTunes on 22 July 2008. The video has so far reached number one on the iTunes Music Video Chart in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, and the United States, and number two in New Zealand and Germany.