What's My Name? (Rihanna's song)

“What's My Name?” - the song of medium tempo ^[1] in electro style - R & B ^[2] was created by the Norwegian production team StarGate , which brought Rihanna back to the early genre of her career “Island-pop”. The accompaniment of the song consists of “heavy reggae ” ^[3] and skit-bits ^[4] with synthesized organ sounds ^[3] . Bill Lemb of the About.com media resource noted that before the beginning of the vocal part of the singer, the “fabulous rhythms of the drum machine ” were growing. He called the instrumental arrangement of the song “simple” and “creating a certain atmosphere” ^[1] . The song is written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Thor Erik Hermansen , Esther Dean , Tracy Hale and Aubrey Graham and includes the theme “sex and romance” ^[5] .

The song “What's My Name?” Received a lot of positive feedback from music critics for its romantic and sensual tone. Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun-Times did not either praise or criticize the song, but instead drew attention to the floating nature of the composition. “[Rihanna] and her passionate partner in the duo Drake made the windows of the recording studio misted as he helplessly reads rap from the scene” ^[6] . Bill Lamb from About.com gave the song a positive assessment, saying: “That's it, the chorus opens the song with the phrase“ Oh na na ... what's my name? ”And the hook is implanted very hard, shortly before Drake starts to rap with clever, sexual and romantic rhyming. Then the fabulous rhythms of the drum machine and the voice of Rihanna take effect again. This is a hit ... "What's My Name?" Is a good addition to the collection of evening romantic songs " ^[1] . Jocelyn Vyana from MTV praised the “chorus of the song” and “Drake's couplet” ^[5] . Molly Lambert of Pitchfork Media praised Rihanna’s work, saying, “In the song“ What's My Name? ” There is no doubt that she really could be the only girl in the world ” ^[7] . Digital Spy's Nick Levin: ““ What's My Name? ”Is, by and large, a long, luxurious, love version of the unshakable song“ Rude Boy ”... the song remains elegant, even with Drake’s quirky joke about“ square root 69 ”, is not at all shy referring to oral sex with Rihanna " ^[2] . Megan Vick of Billboard : “Nothing less than“ What's My Name? ”Is a collaboration, but Rihanna owns the more refined part of the song.” ^[3]

On October 30, 2010, the single “What's My Name?” First appeared on the Billboard Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Songs chart at 67 position and, later, reached its maximum at number 2 ^{[8] [9]} . The debut of “What's My Name?” On the 83 line of the Billboard Hot 100 occurred after the release of the song on the mainstream radio stations in the USA ^[10] , and three weeks later, the composition won first place due to the release of a commercial digital single; the song became the first in the career of Drake and the eighth hit of Rihanna, who took the first line in this chart ^[11] . The track “What's My Name?” Reached the top of the chart earlier than the main single “ Only Girl (In the World) ”, which took first place two weeks later ^[12] . The song reached the first line of the American Hot Digital Songs sales in the first week - 235,000 copies of the single. Rihanna became the first singer in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, whose debut single album topped the chart after the leadership of the second (“Whats My Name?” Was released after “Only Girl (In the World)”). In addition, she became the first performer who in 2008 took the first three places on the Hot 100 chart with Take a Bow , Disturbia and rapper TI with Rihanna, Live Your Life , repeating this achievement a year later ^{[ 13]} . In the seventh week after the release of the single in the commercial implementation, he crossed the sales mark of one million copies ^[14] . Only in the US, the song was purchased more than 2,000,000 times ^[15] , which brought the single double platinum certification from the American Recording Association of Companies ^[15] .

In the UK, thanks to the release of the album Loud , on November 27, 2010, the song “What's My Name?” Debuted at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart national chart ^[16] . Next week, December 5, reached a new peak in eighth place, in addition to this, Rihanna became the fourth artist who managed to enter the top ten charts with three different singles, namely with “Only Girl (In the World)” in the seventh and with " Who's that chick? ( David Guetta with the participation of Rihanna) on the ninth line of the chart ^[17] . On December 19, the song rose to second place, where it lasted for three weeks in a row ^[18] , after which it headed the top of the chart on January 9, 2011. As a result, Rihanna became the first performer to rank first in the UK top chart for five consecutive years. She is the second artist to reach this record after Elvis Presley , who took first place from 1959 to 1963. "What's My Name?" Is the fifth single of the first magnitude in Rihanna's career in the UK ^[19] . Also, the singer for the second time simultaneously headed the single and the album of the charts in the United Kingdom, for the first time this happened in May 2007 with the single “ Umbrella ” and the album Good Girl Gone Bad , respectively ^[20] . To date, “What's My Name?” Is the first single in Drake’s career to lead the UK charts ^[21] .

Shooting the music video began on September 26, 2010 in New York ; The director was Philip Andelman. ^[22] Drake scenes were filmed on October 27 ^[23] . The video clip premiered on November 12, 2010 on Rihanna’s personal channel VEVO on YouTube ^[24] .

The music video begins with a review of various places in the city, then switches to the store where Drake talks to the cashier. Rihanna enters there and attracts the attention of the rapper. She smiles at him, goes to the fridge and takes out a bag of milk. Drake follows her and begins his verse. He holds her hand while reading a rap, the singer touches his hand, milk falls and spills on the floor. When Drake's verse ends, Rihanna pushes him away and leaves the store with a smile.

At the beginning of the couplet, the singer walks down the street and dances. You can also notice people walking with musical instruments. Additionally, scenes are shown where the singer with the rapper is in the bedroom, flirting, talking and drinking champagne. The final scene of the music video shows Rihanna, who sings and dances at a reggae party with the musicians shown earlier. In the final, Drake in the bedroom kisses Rihanna on the cheek.

The song “What's My Name?” Was first sung (without Drake) on October 30, 2010, during a television show on Saturday evening live ^{[25] [26]} . Her performance costume (short, tight-fitting high-waisted shorts and a bikini at the top) looked like Rihanna's girlfriend’s singer Katy Perry ’s stage clothes ^[27] . Then, on November 15, before the release of the album, Rihanna repeated her presentation with “What's My Name?” For MTV - The Seven (live performance in Times Square , New York ) ^[28] . A day later, she sang the song again, this time on The Late Show with David Letterman ^[29] . On November 17, she gave an interview and spoke at Good Morning America. ^[30] On November 21, at the American Music Awards of 2010, Rihanna sang a potpourri of her latest hits: “ Love the Way You Lie (Part II) ”, “What's My Name?” And “ Only Girl (In the World) ” ^[31] . In the UK, the singer was invited to perform in the seventh season of The X Factor with the songs “ Unfaithful ” (with finalist Matt Cardle ) and “What's My Name?” ^[32] . The final of the season was watched by fifteen million TV viewers, but several thousand complaints were received regarding the singer's stage clothes and her sexual performance ^[33] . Vivienne Patterson, director of the association Mediawatch UK, said: “It was not a suitable performance before the release of the last series of the seventh season, I think it was very clear” ^[34] . The director of Ofcom's controlling body later confirmed the rumors about the beginning of an investigation into the speeches of Rihanna and Christina Aguilera in the final of The X Factor after receiving four thousand complaints from television viewers ^[35] . For the first time, the singer sang a song together with Drake at the 53rd Grammy ceremony on February 13 ^[36] , she also performed the song, as part of a potpourri, with “ Only Girl (In the World) ” and “ S & M ” at the Brit Awards 15 ceremony February 2011 ^{[37] [38]} . On February 20, Rihanna and Drake sang "What's My Name?" At the annual NBA All-Star Game ; in addition, the singer performed the hits " Umbrella " / "Only Girl (In the World)" / " Rude Boy " / " All of the Lights "(With Kanye West ) ^[39] . The song was included in the list of compositions of the Australian part of her concert tours Last Girl on Earth Tour and Loud Tour ^[40] . In May 2011, Rihanna took part in a series of summer concerts on the TV show NBC Today , singing "What's My Name?", "Only Girl (In the World)", "S & M" and " California King Bed " ^[41] .

• Digital download ^[42]

1. “What's My Name?” (With Drake ) - 4:24

• Digital Remixes EP ^[43]

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

• CD single for Germany ^[44]

1. “What's My Name?” (With Drake) - 4:24
2. “What's My Name?” (Low Sunday “Up On It Radio”) - 3:47

• Mikkel S. Eriksen, Thor Erik Hermansen , Esther Dean , Tracy Hale , Aubrey Graham - Songwriters
• Stargate - Music Producer
• Mikkel S. Eriksen, Miles Walker - Sound Recording
• Cook Harrell - Vocal Arrangement
• Cook Harrell, Josh Gadwin, Marcos Tovar - vocal recording
• Bobby Campbell - Vocal Recording Assistant
• Noah "40" Shebib - Drake's vocal recording
• Noel Cadastre, Brandon Johner - Drake's Assistant Recording
• Phil Tan - Information
• Damien Lewis - Sound Director
• Mikkel S. Eriksen, Thor Erik Hermansen - Tools
• Esther Dean - Backing vocals
• Chris Goering - Mastering

Source: ^[45]

Continuity