'Diamonds' Video: Rihanna Drops Visuals For Lead Single Off 'Unapologetic'

WATCH: Rih's Back With Another Video

Rihanna was already scheduled to chat with Andy Cohen on Facebook Live on Thursday, but first she had some important business to get out of the way: the music video for "Diamonds."

The song is the lead single off her upcoming album, "Unapologetic." "Diamonds" was produced by Benny Blanco and Stargate and written by Sia. It marked a strong departure from her recent work, which veered more toward electronic dance music. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Blanco explained how the single came together:

We were trying to come up with stuff for Rihanna for weeks. I was with Stargate, and we kept trying to come up with stuff that was cool. And we came up with some stuff, but it just sounded so much like Rihanna. Most of the time when people work with an artist, they don't give them what they need for the future, they give them what their last album sounded like. So it's like, "oh, One Republic needs a song, why don't we send them 10 that sound like 'Apologize?' Or, "Oh, Rihanna needs a song, why don't do 'We Found Love'?" But what you really want to give someone is something they don't know and have them realize they need it.

But we didn't even do that. We're sitting there trying to make records, and we finally just said, "Let's just do something we like. Let's make a hip-hop record with some really cool chords on it." It didn't sound Rihanna at all. We were more thinking of making a record that sounds like Kanye. Let's make a record with a dope beat. So we did. Then Sia heard the track and instantly gravitated towards it. We weren't even thinking of putting a pop song on it, but she wrote this amazing song, and it just happened overnight.

Rihanna said "Diamonds" has replaced "Umbrella" as her favorite song she's ever made. "Even if you're in the club, it really f--ks with your head. Like, really, I'm too drunk for this sh-t," she told Cohen.

Other fun quotes: She thinks Kanye is "a genius," Jay-Z is "even more genius" and Beyonce is "gorgeous -- a stab to my confidence."

The video comes on the heels of Rihanna's well-received performance at last night's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show taping. She also dropped a preview of her new song with Chris Brown, "Nobodies Business." Watch the "Diamonds" video above. "Unapologetic" hits stores Nov. 19.

November 2005

Rihanna's Style Evolution

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