Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Rihanna just dropped a new song featuring Paul McCartney and Kanye West

Rihanna has hinted that she’ll release #R8, her eighth studio album this year, and buzz has surrounded the artist for months. Saturday night, she dropped the first song off that album. “FourFiveSeconds” is performed with Kanye West, who is also expected to release an album in 2015, alternating on lead and backing vocals and Paul McCartney playing the acoustic guitar. It’s the second time McCartney and West have teamed up. Listen on iTunes.

“I think I’ve had enough/ Might get a little drunk/ I say what’s on my mind/ I might do a little time,” she sings to open the track, “Cause all of my kindness/ Is taken for weakness.” It’s more vulnerable than we’ve heard Rihanna since 2012’s “Stay,” and hints that her new album may contain more confessional slow jams like this one.

Rihanna’s voice shows significant growth in range and tone since her last album, and the song carries a momentum that makes it feel both upbeat and nostalgic at the same time.

There’s a twang to McCartney’s guitar and rich emotion in Kanye and Rhianna’s voices. I can’t kick the image of the three of them sitting around a campfire at the end of summer singing this song.

More in Culture

Good Medicine
The alcohol crisis quietly hitting high-stress, “high-status” workersThe alcohol crisis quietly hitting high-stress, “high-status” workers
Good Medicine

What The Pitt can teach us about addiction.

By Dylan Scott
Advice
What trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workoutWhat trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workout
Advice

Have we finally unlocked exercise’s biggest secret? Or is this yet another lie perpetrated Big Treadmill?

By Alex Abad-Santos
Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
How fan fiction went mainstreamHow fan fiction went mainstream
Podcast
Podcasts

The community that underpins Heated Rivalry, explained.

By Danielle Hewitt and Noel King
Culture
Why Easter never became a big secular holiday like ChristmasWhy Easter never became a big secular holiday like Christmas
Culture

Hint: The Puritans were involved.

By Tara Isabella Burton
Culture
The sticky, sugary history of PeepsThe sticky, sugary history of Peeps
Culture

A few things you might not know about Easter’s favorite candy.

By Tanya Pai