"Only Girl (In the World)" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud (2010). It was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 2010, by Def Jam Recordings. Crystal Johnson wrote the song in collaboration with its producers Stargate (Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen) and Sandy Vee. Rihanna contacted Stargate before Loud production and asked the duo to create lively, upbeat music. "Only Girl (In the World)" was the first song composed for the album and Rihanna decided to include it on the track list before she recorded her vocals. Backed by a strong bassline and synthesizers, the song is a dance-pop, Eurodance and "rave" R&B track that has an electronic composition. Its lyrics describe the singer demanding attention from her lover.
Upon its release, "Only Girl (In the World)" received favorable reviews from music critics, who praised the song's composition and Rihanna's decision to move away from the dark themes of her fourth studio album, Rated R (2009). The song won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. Commercially, "Only Girl (In the World)" was an international success, topping the record charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and peaking within the top five of the charts in France, Germany and Switzerland. It spent two weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart and is the 19th-bestselling single of all time by a female artist, with over one million units sold. In the United States, "Only Girl (In the World)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart two weeks after Loud second single, "What's My Name?", reached number one. It was the first time in the history of Billboard magazine that an album's lead single reached number one after its second single. "Only Girl (In the World)" has over two billion streams on Spotify.
The accompanying music video for "Only Girl (In the World)" was directed by Anthony Mandler and depicts Rihanna alone in an open natural landscape, suggesting that she is the only female in the world, echoing the song's title and lyrics. The music video was praised by critics for its bright, colorful theme. Rihanna performed the song on Saturday Night Live, The X Factor and a shortened version at the 31st Brit Awards. The singer also performed "Only Girl (In the World)" at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in a medley with her 2012 single "Where Have You Been".
Background and release
"Only Girl (In the World)" was written by Crystal Johnson with the song's producers, Stargate and Sandy Vee. Rihanna had previously worked with Stargate on the singles "Hate That I Love You", "Don't Stop the Music" and "Rude Boy". In February 2011, Stargate said that Rihanna approached the Norwegian production duo before she began recording the then-untitled project, saying that she wanted to have fun and produce happy, uptempo songs. According to Tor Erik Hermansen of Stargate, "Only Girl (In the World)" was the first song created for Loud and Rihanna decided to include it on the album before recording her vocals. Furthermore, American singer Katy Perry expressed interest in recording "Only Girl (In the World)", but the song was specifically composed by Stargate for Rihanna. In a webchat with fans, Rihanna said that she wanted to take the next step as an artist: "I didn't want to go backward and remake Good Girl Gone Bad. I wanted the next step in the evolution of Rihanna, and it's perfect for us. You guys are always defending me, so now you've got some great songs to justify it." The singer described "Only Girl (In the World)" as having a "bigger sound" than "Rude Boy".
In preparation for recording "Only Girl (In the World)", Rihanna took a few days to mentally prepare and rest her voice. Johnson recorded a demo of the song and sent it to Rihanna before she officially recorded it. All the elements, including the giggles and ad-libs in the first line of lyrics, were pre-planned and executed beforehand. The instrumental of "Only Girl (In the World)" was recorded by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen of Stargate and Miles Walker at Roc the Mic Studios in New York City and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and by Vee at the Bunker in Paris. Kuk Harrell produced Rihanna's vocals, recording them with Josh Gudwin and Marcos Tovar. Inaam Haq, Dane Liska and Brad Shea recorded additional vocals. The song was mixed by Phil Tan at the Ninja Beat Club in Atlanta and by Vee at The Bunker, with engineering by Damien Lewis. Eriksen, Vee and Hermansen provided the instrumentation, and Johnson sang background vocals. The cover of "Only Girl (In the World)" maintains the semi-nude aesthetic seen in Rated R but introduces a red color scheme, serving as a bridge between the two themes. In the image, Rihanna is depicted kneeling in a field, holding a red dress to preserve modesty. Adorned with a necklace and sporting a bandage on her arm, the singer's hip tattoo is prominently visible. The 'R' symbol is situated in the upper left corner of the album cover, with the song title placed in the bottom middle.
On August 31, 2010, Rihanna posted an announcement on Twitter, tagging Ryan Seacrest's username, that she would release a special song that everyone could listen to repeatedly just like the only girl in this world in less than 10 days. A few days later, the singer announced that she would premiere "Only Girl (In the World)" on the On Air with Ryan Seacrest website on September 7 at 3 a.m. PT. The song officially became available as a digital download single on September 10 and 13 in various countries worldwide. On September 21, 2010, Rihanna sent "Only Girl (In the World)" to contemporary hit and rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States.
Composition "Only Girl (In the World)" is a dance-pop, Eurodance and "rave" R&B song. The sheet music for the song shows two to three sharps in common time with a suggested tempo of "moderately fast." Its instrumentation includes synthesizers, a "heavy whipping bass" and a "strobing" electro beat. Brad Wete of Entertainment Weekly described the song as a "stronger, sexier" version of her 2007 single, "Don't Stop the Music".
Rihanna's voice spans one-and-a-half octaves in "Only Girl (In the World)", from F3 to C5, and her vocal has a "silky", "seductive" tone. In the song's lyrics Rihanna yearns for her lover's attention, which makes her feel like the only girl in the world. The singer "pours her heart out" in the chorus: "Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world/ Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love/ Like I'm the only one who knows your heart/ Only girl in the world." According to Digital Spy writer Nick Levine, the chorus "thumps like a rabbit having an epileptic fit." Rihanna sings suggestively, "Baby, I'll tell you all my secrets that I'm keepin'/ You can come inside/ And when you enter, you ain't leavin'/ Be my prisoner for the night." Fraser McAlpine of the BBC compared the song's message to that of the German fairy tale "Rapunzel"; Rihanna is not willing to throw her hair out of the castle for just any man to come and satisfy her, "particularly not someone who isn't prepared to make the climb up to her scarily high window."
Critical reception The song received a generally positive response from music critics. Chloe Govan remarked that "Only Girl (In the World)" symbolizes Rihanna's newfound and bold personality, reflecting not only a shift in style but also in sound. Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times called the track a "surefire hit" and something of a "comeback". MTV News writer James Dinh praised the uptempo song, comparing it to the "stark" lead single "Russian Roulette" from Rihanna's previous Rated R. Monica Herrera wrote for Billboard that "Only Girl (In the World)" "aims squarely for dance-floor domination." Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four stars out of five, calling it a "crowd-pleaser" but not overly original.
According to Levine and Jim Farber of the New York Daily News, "Only Girl (In the World)" was Rihanna's most pop-sounding song since "Don't Stop the Music". Analyzing the song, the BBC's Fraser McAlpine questioned why "Only Girl (In the World)" leaves a "positive impression" on the listener despite its arrogant, domineering tone. Critical at first ("Listen to the pneumatic hiss at the heart of this song. Try and endure the pumping thrust without getting winded. There is simply too much pressure being stuffed into our ears, with too much brutal force"), he concluded that Rihanna sings the song with great passion and gave it four stars out of five. James Dolan gave the song two-and-a-half stars out of five in Rolling Stone, writing that "the trance beat won't keep you in the club unless someone else is paying for the drinks."
Chart performance
North America In the United States, "Only Girl (In the World)" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 25, 2010, jumping to number three the following week, before peaking at number one (Rihanna's ninth) on November 25. Loud second single, "What's My Name?" (featuring Drake), topped the Hot 100 two weeks before; it was the first time in chart history that an album's first single reached number one after its second. "Only Girl (In the World)" was Rihanna's fourth number-one song of 2010, and she was the first female and the first artist since Usher (in 2004) with four number-one singles in a calendar year. The singer also had the most number-one singles (nine) since 2000. "Only Girl (In the World)" appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart in 2010 and 2011 at numbers 47 and 40, respectively.
The song debuted on the Digital Songs chart at number one with sales of 249,000, Rihanna's eighth number-one single and her sixth to debut atop the chart (the most in both categories by any artist since the chart's 2005 introduction). The singer set a Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) radio-airplay chart record when "Only Girl (In the World)" rose from number two to number one on November 25, 2010, her seventh number-one. The song was number 46 and number 33, respectively, on the 2011 Billboard Digital Songs and Pop Songs year-end charts. "Only Girl (In the World)" was Rihanna's twelfth number-one on the Dance Club Songs songs chart and number 46 on the 2010 Billboard year-end chart. The song has been certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 3.6 million copies in the US as of June 2015. In Canada, "Only Girl (In the World)" debuted at number 65 on September 25, 2010, and rose to number one for a week the following week. On November 6 the song returned to number one for three consecutive weeks, remaining on the chart for a total of 35 weeks.
United Kingdom In the United Kingdom "Only Girl (In the World)" debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart on October 31, 2010, with 126,000 copies sold. Cheryl Cole debuted at number one with "Promise This", selling 157,000 copies, and Cole and Rihanna had the highest and second-highest debut sales figures of the year. The song rose to number one the next week for two consecutive weeks. It was Rihanna's fourth UK number-one single, following "Umbrella" (2007), "Take a Bow" (2008) and "Run This Town" (2009). By December 2011 "Only Girl (In the World)" was the 108th song to sell more than a million copies in the United Kingdom, the fifteenth by a female artist, Rihanna's first as primary artist and second overall; the 107th million-seller was Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" six weeks before, on which Rihanna was featured.