Rihanna Feat. Eminem - Love The Way You Lie Part II

Better than the original?


Spyke

It's Incredible!

Rihanna's Rated R received great critical praise but slightly under performed commercially (only managing to peak at #9 here). Despite having the singles to do well the project was a bit miss handled - not releasing Hard here, trying to release Rockstar 101 in America and leaving the impeccable Firebomb as just an album track. This has still been Rihanna's year: with Rude Boy, Te Amo and Love The Way You Lie she has come back as a front runner in the global charts. She'll even be the biggest selling singles artist of the year here in the UK (currently with 1.7 million sales).

When I heard she was releasing another album two months before Christmas just a year later I thought it might have been a rushed effort to get back on commercial ground. But it seems I was wrong, so far 'Loud' looks to have as much potential as 'GGGB'. Last week Rihanna sold the highest weekly total for a #2 (non Christmas related) single since Westlife's Uptown Girl in 2001 with Only Girl (In The World). After a brilliant performance on Sunday's X Factor she looks set to build on those sales and take the top spot! In the US she's starring in commercials for Kodak and Dorritos (see I'm That Chick) and currently sits at #3 on the Hot 100 with Only Girl, and #2 on itunes with What's My Name?. It couldn't be going better.

Then this track drops. The original version currently stands as the biggest seller of the year with sales over 750k. This version is very much more subdued, with the backing track stripped right down to little more than a piano and drum beat, bringing more focus to the haunting vocal from Rihanna and rap from Eminem. Like Rihanna's middle eight in Live Your Life creating a different aspect to that track, the opening verse brings out the deeply emotional side of the story from the woman's perspective. With humbling lyrics such as 'Even angels have their wicked schemes and you take death to new extremes. But you’ll always be my hero, even though you lost your mind', this track hits a chord as much as the first part did.

I would love this to get a release as it is fantastic. But with the current release schedule looking like; Only Girl (In The World), What's My Name? then S&M with David Guetta releasing Who's That Chick in November it might be a while until we get it.

Chart Predictions:
Spyke 4
McLovin 3
Actual -