Man Down (song)
"Man Down" is a song by Bajan singer Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud (2010). Rihanna, fellow Bajan singer Shontelle, and production duo R. City wrote the song with its main producer, Sham. They wrote it during a writing camp, in Los Angeles of March 2010, held by Rihanna's record label to gather compositions for possible inclusion on the then-untitled album. Rock City were inspired by Bob Marley's 1973 song "I Shot the Sheriff" and set out to create a song which embodied the same feel, but from a female perspective. "Man Down" is a reggae song which incorporates elements of ragga and electronic music. Lyrically, Rihanna is a fugitive after she shoots a man, an action she later regrets. Several critics singled out "Man Down" as Loud's highlight, while others commented on her prominent West Indian accent and vocal agility.
"Man Down"
Def Jam released "Man Down" on May 3, 2011, as the fifth single from the album. In the United States, the single reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song topped the chart in France for five consecutive weeks and reached the top three in Belgium and the Netherlands. Anthony Mandler directed its music video, in which Rihanna's character shoots a man after he rapes her. The video was criticized by the Parents Television Council, Industry Ears and Mothers Against Violence, who faulted Rihanna for suggesting that murder is an acceptable form of justice for rape victims. However, actress Gabrielle Union, a rape survivor, praised the video for being relatable. "Man Down" was on the set list for three of Rihanna's tours – the Loud Tour (2011), the Diamonds World Tour (2013) and the Anti World Tour (2016).
Background[edit]
In March 2010, record label Def Jam held a writing camp in Los Angeles for songwriters and producers to compose material for possible inclusion on Rihanna's then-untitled fifth studio album, Loud.[1][2] Def Jam rented out nearly every recording studio in Los Angeles in order to create as many songs as possible.[1] Ray Daniels, the manager of musical duo Rock City (brothers Theron and Timothy Thomas), was present during the sessions, and stated that a writing camp typically involves the label hiring ten recording studios for two weeks at the cost of $25,000 per day. Daniels revealed that it is where songwriters have lyrics but no music, and where producers have music but no lyrics.[2]
Shama Joseph, professionally known as Sham, was hired as one of the producers to work on crafting songs at the camp. Sham's manager had arranged his attendance at the camp through an acquaintance who was an employee of the record label. Sham explained that he found a flight to Los Angeles and began working on music as soon as he arrived, stating that he had "nothing to lose and everything to gain". He was inspired by a vision of Rihanna performing songs at a concert that were Caribbean themed. Sham felt that Rihanna had not explored Caribbean-themed music since her debut album, Music of the Sun (2005).[1]
Release and reception[edit]
On March 1, 2011, Rihanna asked fans to help her choose the next single from Loud using Twitter, saying that she would film a music video in the forthcoming weeks. After an influx of suggestions, the singer said she had narrowed the options down to four songs: "Man Down", "California King Bed", "Cheers (Drink to That)" and "Fading".[28] On March 12, she confirmed that "California King Bed" had been selected as the next international single.[29][30] However, "Man Down" was sent to rhythmic and urban radio stations in the United States on May 3,[31][32][33] before the May 13 release of "California King Bed", making "Man Down" and "California King Bed" the fifth and sixth singles from Loud.[34] The song was released in France and Switzerland on July 11[35][36] and the Netherlands on July 15.[37]
Kitty Empire called the track "excellent", and praised it for being an original composition which is reminiscent of a "righteous old reggae murder ballad".[19] Consequence of Sound writer Ryan Burleson said that "Man Down" and another album track called "Fading" both "stand on their own sonically", and that the former is an homage to her Caribbean heritage with its dancehall melody.[38] Describing the track as "breezy", Bradley Stern thought that no other song on Loud embodied Rihanna's personality more so than on "Man Down".[20] Cinquemani chose "Man Down" as the best song on Loud, calling Rihanna's vocal agility "surprising" and noting that the "fully-fledged reggae" song is co-written by a fellow Barbadian-born singer, Shontelle.[16]
In her review of Loud, Emily Mackay of NME called its experimentation more "organic" than that on Rihanna's previous album Rated R (2009), citing "Man Down"'s theme of "doomed youth".[39] Similarly, Nima Baniamer of Contactmusic.com pointed out that "Man Down", which she described as "a dark track" that is "haunting" yet "delightfully intriguing", was reminiscent of the material on Rated R.[22] In their review of Rihanna's top 20 songs, Time Out ranked "Man Down" as their tenth best track, writing that it is Rihanna at "her badass best".[40] Complex staff compiled a list of their top 26 Rihanna songs, and ranked "Man Down" in thirteenth place; Claire Lobenfeld thought that it was the singers most "cinematic" song of her career, and that she elevated the theme of "accidental manslaughter" from "downtrodden" to "adorable".[41]
Commercial performance[edit]
In the United States, "Man Down" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of June 11, 2011, peaking at number 59 on July 9 and spending a total of 14 weeks on the chart.[42] On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, it peaked at number nine on August 6, 2011, remaining there for two weeks and spending a total of 28 weeks charting.[43][44] It was number 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 2011 year-end list.[45] "Man Down" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of more than 2 million units.[46] The song reached number 63 on the Canadian Hot 100.[47]
"Man Down" debuted at number 65 on the French Singles Chart on June 6, 2011, a month before its release as a single. It rose to number one on July 30, remaining there for five consecutive weeks, and was number two the week before and for three weeks after its chart-topping run. It stayed on the chart until January 21, 2012, but re-entered four weeks later, before again leaving after the week of May 12, 2012 and re-entering three weeks later. The song, on and off the French chart for the rest the year, continued to appear on it sporadically in 2013. After a total of 73 weeks on the chart, the track's last French chart appearance was at number 172 on August 8, 2013.[48]
"Man Down" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 117 on June 11, 2015, reaching number 75 the following week.[49][50] The song peaked at number 54 in its fourth week, remaining there for two weeks and spending a total of 11 weeks on the chart.[51][52][53] On the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart, "Man Down" reached number 15 on June 26, spending 18 weeks in the top 40.[54][55] In Belgium, the song peaked at number three in Dutch-speaking Flanders and number two in French-speaking Wallonia.[56][57] It was certified gold by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) for selling more than 15,000 copies.[58] Although the song spent only one week on the Italian Singles Chart (at number eight), it was certified platinum by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) in 2014 for selling more than 30,000 copies.[59][60]
Music video[edit]
Background and synopsis[edit]
Anthony Mandler directed the music video for "Man Down" in April 2011 on a beach in Portland Parish, on the northeastern Jamaican coast.[61][62] Rihanna told Rap-Up that the video has a "strong underlying message [for] girls like me!"[61] On May 1, 2011, three camera phone teaser photos, of Rihanna on a beach in a white Dolce & Gabbana dress and riding a bicycle in Portland Parish, were released.[63] The music video premiered on BET's 106 & Park on May 31, 2011.[61] In an interview for MTV News, Mandler said that "Man Down" required "a strong narrative and visual" and that fans could expect something "dramatic and shocking and intense and emotions and uplifting and enlightening".[62]
The video opens as the protagonist (Rihanna) shoots and kills a man while he walks through a busy train station. She flees before a flashback to the previous day, when she rides her bike, meets friends and is alone in a bedroom at dusk. At a nightclub the protagonist dances and flirts with another club-goer, who then attacks her when she leaves the club. Disheveled, the woman cries in the street after an implied sexual assault, and the video ends as she runs home to grab a gun hidden in a dresser drawer.[64]
Analysis and reception[edit]
Janell Hobson analysed the imagery presented in the video for "Man Down" in her book Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender, which "challenges postmodernist dismissals of identity politics and the delusional belief that the Millennial era reflects a 'postracial' and 'postfeminist' world."[65][66] In the chapter titled "Disclosures: Black Women's Resistance to Sexual Violence", Hobson explores how black women have "found the courage" to speak out about sexual violence, protest against it and not remain a silent victim. She recalled Rihanna's interview for 20/20 with Diane Sawyer, which aired on November 6, 2009. Having remained silent about her altercation with Brown on the evening of the Grammy Party in February that year, whereby Brown assaulted her, Rihanna decided to speak about it for the first time. The author noted how Sawyer decided to approach the interview by presenting the couples relationship and assault case as an "anomaly" and accused Rihanna of "projecting a 'fake' imagery of strong black woman", rather than presenting her another domestic violence victim not only in the United States, but in the world. "I am strong", Rihanna responded.[65] Hobson wrote that from then on, the singer decided to project an image of "hardcore masculinity and dominatrix-type femininity in her music trajectory".[65]
Subsequently, several of Rihanna's songs and music videos have courted controversy for their violent themes, which Hobson attributes to the leaking of a photo showing the singers "battered face" on the evening of the assault by TMZ which circulated the internet without the permission of Rihanna. Hobson writes: "Because of this, Rihanna has had to wrest back control of the 'victim' image foisted on her, and she in turn has challenged us rhetorically and visually to question and examine the power, danger, and violences that shape our relationships." She continued to highlight the music videos for "Russian Roulette", "Hard", "We Found Love", "Love the Way You Lie" with Eminem which documents domestic violence, and "S&M", which contains references to bondage and fetishism and is, in part, Rihanna's response to disparaging critics, as examples. At one point in the video for "S&M", Rihanna is literally tied up as a victim.[65]
However, Hobson noted that Rihanna "rejects the victim stance" in the video for "Man Down", and elucidated that she played the role of a rape survivor who shot her attacker. She attributed the location of shooting the video in Jamaica as significant, due to how the image of a gun proliferated during 1990s Jamaican dance hall's to "express female rage". The prologue depicts Rihanna as a "dark-hooded" femme fatale whereby the narrative explains her motives for murder and provokes the spectator to sympathize with her because she danced in a provocative manner with a man in a club, which Hobson suggests is "somehow deserving of rape". She continued to explain that Rihanna is inviting the audience to consider what justice means by "pointing both a literal and lyrical gun at the issue". Hobson concluded that Rihanna is protecting her vulnerability and countering the image of the abused black woman who is looked at unsympathetically in society.[65]
Beck Bain of Idolator described the video as "visually stunning",[67] while Metro writer Lee Ann labelled it as "shocking".[68] Co-writer of "Man Down" Theron Thomas felt that the video was very theatrical and that Rihanna played her role "perfectly". He continued to say that had the video been a lyric-by-lyric representation, the narrative would have been more "graphic".[4]
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