Watch: Rihanna Drops Video for "Work" ft. Drake
Finally!
Today bad gal, Rihanna released the music video "Work" featuring Drake. It was filmed across North America — Rihanna and Drake were spotted shooting in both Los Angeles and Toronto earlier this year — and teased with a 30-second clip last week before premiering the full visual today. The video's first half is pretty simple: the two stars roll up to a Toronto Caribbean restaurant, drink a lot of Red Stripe (among other alcoholic beverages), and dance, or rather grind the night away. Just when you think it's over, you're hit with another full video, one in which Drake and Rihanna keep dancing in a private room lit in pink and purple. (The second half is credited to another director, Tim Erem.) The whole thing stretches out over nearly eight minutes.
Released as the lead single from the singer's new LP ANTI roughly a month ago, "Work" debuted within the Top 10 of the Billboard charts before reaching a peak of No. 4 in its most recent chart week. The dancehall-pop smash buoyed ANTI's anemic first-week sales (it's complicated) with tons of streams and downloads before the album made its way to No. 1 during its second week of availability. A surge in YouTube plays could help "Work" break the grip Justin Bieber's held on the top spot with singles like "What Do You Mean?," "Sorry," and "Love Yourself" over the last few months. Even if "Work" falls short of the absolute peak, it's already lived up to Drake and Rihanna's impressive collaborative track record: 2010's "What's My Name?" and 2011's "Take Care" both landed within the Top 10.