As devotional odes go, "You Da One" by Rihanna is one of the more aggressive affirmations of allegiance in pop music. With a twinge of reggae splashed with a sprinkling of dubstep, Rihanna honors her man completely, "Baby come, tear me now, hold me now / Make me come alive / You got the sweetest touch / I'm so happy, you came in my life."
The video doesn't feature a love interest, but Rihanna is clearly putting on a one-woman performance for somebody. She covers herself in white powder, makes kissy faces in old Hollywood shades and throws a few come hither winks at the camera. Oh, it's so enticing, don't try to fight it.
Watch the video for Rihanna's second single below
As an artist with a decent video catalogue, "You Da One" is one of Rihanna's weaker entries. It's a mish mash of her previous videos with some Clockwork Orange references dusted on top. The nasty girl crotch grabbing and slow whinin' is from "Rude Boy," the beauty shots with the pixie cut echo "Take a Bow" and the nude(esque) body covered in paint is a trick revisited from "Umbrella."
The video was shot in a day and isn't nearly as inspired as the phenomenally charged "We Found Love" video. The effort in this video was second-class and it shows in the final product. The dusty blonde wig looks off and doesn't help matters either.
For the next video from Talk That Talk, let's hope Rihanna takes more time for the treatment and collaborates with a different director in search of some new ideas.