This post originally APPEARED on stereogum.com
His first #1, she had to put it in his hand. His second one, too. Drake was an ascendant star when he appeared on Rihanna’s 2010 chart-topper “What’s My Name.” He wasn’t anywhere near as famous as Rihanna, but he was on his way. Part of that song’s charge is Drake’s clear attraction to Rihanna — the way he nervously blusters and attempts to flirt, doing everything he can to get her attention. It’s weirdly cute.
Six years later, Drake was a huge star, the dominant figure in all of rap. Drake had still never been to #1 on the Hot 100 by himself, though he’d come close. At that point, Drake and Rihanna were clearly on more equal footing, and the combination of those two stars made for another pop event. Still, the dynamic on their song “Work” was still pretty much the same — Rihanna luxuriating in her own sexiness, Drake hopelessly trying to get her to look his way. The effect was the same, too. Once again, Drake made it to #1, but only as a guest on a Rihanna song.
“Work” had its origins in Drake’s songwriting camp, but he’s still lucky to be included in the track. That’s because “Work” would’ve been an event with or without Drake. For nearly the first decade of her career, Rihanna was an absolute hit-machine, cranking out a new album full of smash singles almost every year. But Rihanna’s 2012 LP Unapologetic was her last for Def Jam, the label that signed her when she was a child. When her contract was up, Rihanna moved over to Roc Nation, the management company founded by Jay-Z, the former Number Ones artist who’d signed Rihanna to Def Jam in the first place. Using Roc Nation as a label, Rihanna did not have to be a human hit-machine. She had the space to take her time, and that’s what she did.
In her first few years at Roc Nation, Rihanna released a few one-off singles, but she didn’t get around to releasing another album for more than three years. For her, that seemed like a long time; we had no idea how long we’d have to wait after that record came out. Anti, Rihanna’s seventh album, doesn’t sound much like her others. It moves just as fluidly among genres, but the songs, “Work” included, aren’t gleaming artifacts of the pop system in operation. Instead, they’re loose and evocative mood-pieces — catchy ones, though. An unknown singer might’ve had a hard time taking a track like “Work” to #1, but Rihanna was the exact opposite of an unknown singer, especially when she had Drake riding along with her.
