Russian Roulette (song)

Russian Roulette
General information
Release date	October 26, 2009
Recorded	2009; Roc the Mic Studios; (New York City)
Genre	R&B, pop
Length	3:47
Album	[[Rated R]]
Label	Def Jam Recordings
Producer(s)	Tricky Stewart, The-Dream
Singles chronology
Previous	[[File:Template:Run This Town Song Cover|60px|link=Run This Town]] "Run This Town"
Current	[[File:Template:Russian Roulette Song Cover|60px|link=]] "Russian Roulette"
Next	[[File:Template:Wait Your Turn Song Cover|60px|link=Wait Your Turn]] "Wait Your Turn"
Rated R chronology
"Russian Roulette"

"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R (2009). Jam Recordings.

"Russian Roulette" received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many praising Rihanna's vocal performance and the song's lyrics. The song received commercial success, reaching number one in Norway and Switzerland. It also reached top-ten positions in sixteen other countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and others. The song also reached number two on UK Singles Chart and number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song's accompanying music video, directed by Rihanna's long collaborator Anthony Mandler, premiered on November 13, 2009 via the ABC television show 20/20. The video features Rihanna interviewing her love interest, while sitting on a table, with a revolver between them, and at the end, the interest commits suicide. Other scenes including Rihanna in the woods and in a gas chamber. "Russian Roulette" was promoted with live performances on both sides of the Atlantic, including on the Nokia Rated R promotional concert and series six of The X Factor in the United Kingdom, and on the Late Night with David Letterman in the United States.

Lyrics

Uh, uh [sound of taking breath]

[Verse 1]
Take a breath,
Take it deep.
'Calm yourself', He says to me
If you play, you play for keeps.
Take the gun and count to three.
Im sweating now,
Moving slow,
No time to think. My turn to go

[Hook]
And you can see my heart beating
You can see it through my chest.
Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving
I know that I must pass this test
So, just pull the trigger

[Verse 2]
Say a prayer to yourself
He says 'close your eyes, sometimes it helps'
And then I get a scary thought
That he's here - means he's never lost

[Hook]
And you can see my heart beating.
No, You can see it through my chest.
Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving
Know that I must pass this test.
So, just pull my trigger

[Bridge]
As my life flashes before my eyes
I'm wondering will I ever see another sunrise?
So many won't get the chance to say good-bye
But its too late to think of the value of my life

[Hook]
And you can see my heart beating.
No, You can see it through my chest.
Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving no
know that I must pass this test.
You can see my heart beating.
Oh, You can see it through my chest.
I'm terrified but I'm not leaving no
know that I must pass this test.

So, just pull the trigger

[sound of taking a breath]
[sound of pulling the trigger. Gun shot]

Music video

Main article: Russian Roulette (music video)

Background and synopsis

File:Russian Roulette screenshot.png

Rihanna and actor Jesse Williams playing Russian roulette in the music video for the song.

The music video for "Russian Roulette" was directed by Rihanna's frequent collaborator Anthony Mandler, who directed Rihanna's previous videos for "Take a Bow", "Disturbia", "Rehab" and "Wait Your Turn". In November 2009, Rihanna appeared on "TV total" in Germany to talk about her new album and preview 30 seconds of the video for the song. Mandler spoke to MTV News, stating "I think that with this song and the meaning of this song and how loaded it all is, no pun intended, how much imagery and perhaps symbolism that is loaded in this song, the only way to do it was to do something that was visually challenging". The music video for the song premiered on ABC's 20/20 on November 13, 2009.

The music video opens with shots of Rihanna hooded, lying on the floor of a gas chamber. Three men, dressed in black uniforms and wearing dark round glasses circulate the singer, attempting to extort information from her. The scene then moves to a dimly lit room in which Rihanna sits at a table with her love interest (played by American actor Jesse Williams) opposite. On the table between them lies a silver revolver in which, throughout the video, they take it turns holding to their heads. Other scenes include Rihanna in woodland at night standing in the middle of a highway before a car speeds towards her, quickly cutting to another scene, giving the impression she is run over. Elements of blood and tears and vehicular assault dominate the video. In the final scenes, Rihanna is shown underwater, floating while being fired at; one bullet is visually seen cutting her throat. The video ends with her lover committing suicide with the revolver placed between them.

Reception

James Montgomery of MTV reviewed the video stating:,"There's seemingly no bottom to the inky depths Rihanna plumbs in her brand-new 'Russian Roulette' video, a dark, claustrophobic descent that's creepier than anything she's ever done before (including the 'Disturbia' video)". Katy Hall from The Huffington Post commented that the video comes from a pretty dark place and tells more depressing story than Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". According to Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone, there is a lot of imagery that is influenced by the altercation of Rihanna and Brown from February 2009, including a speeding car that approaches Rihanna while she stands alone at night – "a moment that seems to mirror the events immediately following the assault". Megan Masters from E! Online commented that the video "portrays "some seemingly real emotion with her bouncing back-and-forth between writhing around a padded cell." Simon Vozick-Levinson from Entertainment Weekly supported the dark imagery used in the video, explaining, "What, you thought Rihanna was going to give 'Russian Roulette' a video full of sunshine and rainbows and peppy choreography? Her first single from Rated R is a song about violence".