Rihanna Released “Russian Roulette” For Shock Value?

The goal for Rihanna’s upcoming album was to deliver something that fans haven’t heard and producer, Chuck Harmony said that’s what he aimed to do with her single “Russian Roulette.” We haven’t heard many sad ballads from Rihanna, especially as the lead single of an album.

Sure there was “Unfaithful” and “Rehab” possibly falls into that category, but in general it’s been catchy dance tunes.

Now, she’s got a more adult sound and harmony says they wanted more than just some fluffy pop song, “We wanted to give her a movie. We didn’t want to just give her a three-minute song. I felt musically like everybody was gonna give like that ‘Disturbia,’ ‘SOS,’ kind of pop, uptempo stuff, and I really wanted the song that me and Ne-Yo did to stand out.”

Talking about “Russian Roulette”, Harmony says, “If I had to speculate, I would speculate that [she released it] for shock value. ‘Russian Roulette’ is the kind of song that when you hear it you’re gonna talk about it — whether you like it, you talk about it. It’s so unexpected, from the tempo to the title to the feel.”

When Harmony and Ne-Yo joined up they knew Rihanna needed “something a little darker, something a little edgier, something a little more morbid. Just to try it out.”

And even better – Rihanna loves the track! Harmony reveals, “Rihanna phoned in to Ne-Yo to tell him that it was one of her favorites. I think overall she was comfortable with the vibe of the song and comfortable with the lyrical content of the song. She loves the song.”

One important thing that Harmony addressed was whether or not the album would be about Chris Brown. He says that no matter what Rihanna was singing about, the public was bound to think it was about Chris Brown.

He explains, “Because that’s the newest situation. Whatever she came with, if she came out with ‘I still love you’ that would have been about Chris Brown. If she came out with ‘I hate your dog’ that would have been about Chris Brown, too. It’s just a natural reaction for people to associate ’cause she’s been so tight-lipped.”

This article is courtesy of Ultimate Rihanna.