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“FourFiveSeconds” features vocals by Rihanna and Kanye West, and instrumentals by Sir Paul McCartney. It has earned praise for its minimalist instrumentals, which include acoustic guitar, cello, and organ, and for blending pop, hip-hop, country, and folk — an unprecedented mash-up for all three performers.
It was expected to be on her eighth album ANTI, but was not included. The album art for the single reads “Four Five Seconds” in Braille.
In an interview with V Magazine, Rihanna said she was attracted to the song because of the tension between its sound and its lyrical content:
"When you read the lyrics it’s a completely different song than what you are hearing. The music is easygoing, but the lyrical content is very loud and in your face."
Kanye has compared Rihanna’s vocals on the track to those of Scottish singer Annie Lennox (“the greatest white soul singer alive,” according to VH1).
The song peaked at number four on the Hot 100, becoming Rihanna’s 26th top ten song, McCartney’s 23rd (not counting his 34 with the Beatles), and West’s 15th. McCartney now holds the record for longest time between top ten hits, with 29 years between “FourFiveSeconds” and “Spies Like Us”, which charted on February 8th, 1986.
Paul McCartney’s vocals are in the background on the second verse. The original backing guitar was created on a whim, and his vocals were sped up when they were added in.
These are what the artists said about the song:
"I had the amazing opportunity to work with Paul McCartney and, you know, we just went in and vibed out. As you can see I am a little bit more angst than Paul. And remember the last time when Paul had somebody really angst workin’ with him, and the type of music they made? And I’m not, hey everyone America, I’m not comparing myself to John Lennon, I’m just saying I’m angst a bit like John Lennon. And the tension creates a new magic, the pressure creates the diamonds from the coal, and he came with the best vibes ever. And I said “Four, five seconds from wildin’!”, he said “this is great everyone!”, and we just had that.
And then Rihanna, she heard it and, literally, she would not gonna be satisfied until she had this record. I didn’t feel like I was projecting, I feel like she…it’s like, excuse me if I compare Rihanna to Annie Lennox, but I feel like she has this type of energy in her vocals, and she even brought it to another level of soul and heart and artistry.
And I said “ok cool, I’ll give you this song and next day I woke up on the Grammy and I said “I guess it worked out”.
– Kanye West, On Air With Ryan Seacrest
"The thing that made me fall in love with FourFiveSeconds is the juxtaposition of the music and the lyrics. When you read the lyrics it’s a completely different song than what you are hearing. The music is easygoing, but the lyrical content is very loud and in your face. In performing this, the key was to make sure the aggression wasn’t lost."
– Rihanna, V Magazine
"We had two or three afternoons where we just hung out together in a Beverly Hills hotel in the bungalows out the back, and he had his engineer and was set up with a couple of microphones in case anything happened. I was tootling around on guitar, and Kanye spent a lot of time just looking at pictures of Kim (Kardashian) on his computer. I’m thinking, “are we ever gonna get around to writing?!” But it turns out he was writing. That’s his muse. He was listening to this riff I was doing and obviously he knew in his mind that he could use that, so he took it, sped it up and then somehow he got Rihanna to sing on it. She’s a big favourite of mine anyway, so that just came without me lifting a finger."
– Paul McCartney, DIY Magazine
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