“Love On The Brain” by Rihanna

Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” illustrates her love for a guy as one that consumes her thoughts. Though she admits that this lover enjoys it when she falls apart and beats her black and blue, she can’t seem to stop thinking about him.

The narrator clearly puts in a lot more effort by fighting with fire and running for miles just to get a bit of his love. She is aware that her efforts have been in vain. However, her brains have lost control to her emotions and all she expects is for the other person to love her in return.

Speculations are rife that the lyrics of the song reference a physically abusive unstable relationship, similar to what she had with Chris Brown.

Ultimately, the song covers the pain of a harmful-yet-undying love.

Facts about “Love on the Brain”

• Rihanna recorded and released this track as a single in 2016.
• She wrote this song together with Joseph Angel and Fred Ball, with the latter co-producing the tune with Kuk Harrell.
• Songwriter, Ball revealed that the inspiration behind this track came from the late American singer Prince and soul hit singer, The Reverend Al Green.
• “Love on the Brain” is included on Rihanna’s 8th studio album, entitled, Anti. It is the eleventh song on the album.
• Several music critics have drawn similarities between Rihanna’s vocals on this song to those of the late singers, Sam Cooke and Amy Winehouse.
• Rihanna received favorable commentaries for her vocals on this song. A columnist for Slate magazine praised her vocal flexibility, describing the song as one “designed as a showcase for [her] vocal versatility”.

Are there any covers of this song?

On August 2016, Los Angeles based singer, Maggie Lindemann released a cover of “Love on the Brain”. The song has been covered by several other singers, including Rafferty and Jasmine Ah.

How did “Love on the Brain” perform on the charts?

Chart-wise, this tune’s performance can be considered okay. It peaked at #1 in Poland and #5 in the United States. It also chartered in the top 40 of several nation’s chart lists including Canada, Australia, and Belgium.

Notable Appearances

Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” has appeared in several American TV shows. Some of the prominent ones include:

• Season finale of the 12^th season of American medical drama series, “Grey’s Anatomy”. It appeared in the episode, titled “Family Affair”.
• 2018 American sitcom “Grown-ish”, Season 1, Episode 13. The song was played when Zoey was making the decision of who she wants to be with.
• Season 5, episode 10 of American drama series, “Empire”. The episode aired on 13^th March, 2019. “Love On the Brain” plays while Andre (Trai Byers) and Tery (Meta Golding) are in the car.
• American supernatural-horror TV series, “Chambers” in its pilot episode aired on 26^th April, 2019.
• American musical comedy-drama series, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”.
• 2021 American drama miniseries, “Nine Perfect Strangers”. The song was featured in its 6^th episode, “Motherlode”, when Tony (Bobby Cannavale) and Frances (Melissa McCarthy) kiss in the woods.