“Te Amo” by Rihanna

The narrative of Rihanna’s “Te Amo” is based on a relationship the singer has with a close female friend. Said friend decides she wants to get romantically involved with Riri. And basically throughout the song she is trying to seduce her.

However, Rihanna herself doesn’t want to go there. So she faces a dilemma throughout, as in the songstress being confused. And this confusion isn’t so much of an issue of her questioning her own sensuality as it is being caught off-guard by the sensual advances of a lady friend whom she deemed to be buddy. Indeed the title of the track, “Te Amo”, is Spanish for “I love you”. And this phrase is uttered by both Rihanna and her friend throughout. However, they are using it in two different contexts – the lady romantically while Rihanna more in a platonic sense. And such ambiguity also contributes to the aforementioned confusion, as the singer is trying to fully grasp what exactly her companion means when she utters “te amo”.

And ultimately, contrary to the story played out in the music video, the song itself seemingly concludes with Rihanna opting not to get into a lesbian relationship with her female friend.

Facts about “Te Amo”

Anthony Mandler directed the music video to this track. And it stars French model Laetitia Casta as Rihanna’s romantic interest. In fact the clip itself was filmed in France (Vigny, to be exact).

This was the sixth and last single from Rihanna’s album entitled “Rated R”. And it was released as such, by Def Jam Records, on 8 June 2010.

Rihanna is one of the co-writers of this song, having worked with James Fauntleroy, Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen in that regard.

And the latter two artists on that list, together known as StarGate, also produced the track.

The first time Rihanna performed “Te Amo” live was in United Kingdom, more specifically in Wales during Radio 1’s Big Weekend which was held on 23 May 2010.

“Te Amo” peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and also appeared on music charts in well over 20 other countries.

“Te Amo” has also been certified Platinum in Australia.