The music video for Barbadian singer Rihanna's 2011 single "We Found Love" was directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was filmed on September 26–28, 2011, in the New Lodge area of Belfast and Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. People driving around the location of the set informed BBC that traffic in the area was congested as drivers wanted to see the singer. The video premiered on October 19, 2011, and was made available to download digitally three days later on October 22. As of April 2026, the video has amassed over 1.1 billion views on YouTube.

The video begins with a monologue given by fashion model Agyness Deyn. Scenes of Rihanna with her romantic interest (Dudley O'Shaughnessy) in both love and hate scenarios intersperse, as they experience mounting difficulties in their relationship. After enduring the overwhelming effects of recreational drugs and physical violence, she finds her boyfriend unconscious on the floor of his apartment, and leaves him, having had enough of the relationship. Images of the song's producer and featured artist Calvin Harris appear in outdoor DJ scenes, while the video has regular references to popular culture, such as themes of films and content of other singers' videos.

Many critics noted that the video resembled a short film, and compared it to the films Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream. Some critics also compared the thematic content to those of Rihanna's videos for "S&M" and "Man Down". Despite that, the video caused much controversy among activist groups. Christian youth pastor Brandon Ward, John Colonnello and the Ulster Cancer Foundation criticized the video for Rihanna's portrayal of her character having sex while under the influence of illegal drugs and smoking heavily. Consequently, the video was banned from being shown before 10 pm on French television. It won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video and MTV's VMA for Video of the Year. The video further managed to peak at number one on the Polish Top Airplay TV Chart and the Romanian TV Airplay Chart.

Development

The music video for "We Found Love" was shot on September 26–28, 2011, in County Down, Northern Ireland. It was filmed in a field in the town of Bangor, County Down, ahead of Rihanna's embarkment on the European leg of the Loud Tour (2011), and the New Lodge area of North Belfast."Rihanna music video shoot in Belfast" UTV News September 27, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2012 It was directed by Melina Matsoukas, who had previously directed the videos for "Rude Boy" (2010), and the controversial "S&M" (2011). During the filming, people driving around the location of the set informed the BBC that traffic in the area was congested as drivers tried to see the singer. Pictures showing Rihanna wearing a red bandana top, long flannel shirt, and "dirty denim", similar to the clothing she wore for the song's artwork, were leaked onto the internet the same day. She filmed scenes while wearing a bikini with the pattern of the US flag, and a denim vest and ripped jeans. The owner of the field, farmer and North Down Borough Council Democratic Unionist Party councillor Alan Graham,"Bangor Farmer Alan Graham not for turning on Rihanna" BBC News September 30, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2012 expressed distaste after seeing Rihanna topless on his field, saying: "When the filming did become to my mind unacceptable I requested the filming to stop ... it became apparent to me that the situation was becoming inappropriate and I requested them to stop and they did". On September 28, 2011, the shoot location was moved to a closed set in Titanic Quarter, Belfast where both photographers and fans were barred from watching the singer.

Extras for the shoot were not told what was expected of them until the last minute, in order to keep the content of the video as secret as possible. Regarding the video's content, Rihanna posted a message on Twitter that read: "I really can't stop thinking about this video we just shot! EASILY the BEST video I've done thus far!" Rihanna elaborated on the concept of the video: "We've never done a video like this before. This is probably one of the deepest videos I've ever done ... it's all about love and love being like a drug, you definitely get that from this." The male love interest in the video is Dudley O'Shaughnessy, a model and former boxer. Upon the release of the video, Matsoukas explained the content of the video in an interview with MTV:

We love, obviously, to do provocative imagery ... we always try to definitely push the limits ... I think because, in the end, it's not really at all about domestic violence. It's really just about it being toxic, and they're on this drug trip and that definitely plays a part, but I think it's also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It's not trying to glorify that type of relationship. The bad parts of it, that's what you don't want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life. The drugs and the addiction and the toxic—that's what brings her downfall and brings a lot of harm.

The director went on to explain the content with regard to Rihanna's domestic violence case against former boyfriend Chris Brown in February 2009, saying that it is not a reenactment of what happened between Rihanna and Brown, but rather that Rihanna is acting in the video. Matsoukas said:

[The song's] totally rave-y ... and that's the feeling, just music rushing over you, and then I started thinking about drugs and addiction and love and how that's an addiction ... we've all lived the ups and downs of being in a toxic relationship. It's really about the obstacles of trying to let it go, but at the same time how great it makes you feel, so it's hard to let it go. Again, it goes back to a story that we all can relate to ... It's not Rihanna's story; it's her story in the video, and she's acting. But everybody's [as well]. Obviously, there's a lot of comparisons to her real life, and that's not at all the intention. It's just that I guess people naturally go there because art imitates life, and it's a story we all relate to and we've all experienced. Like, it's based on my life; it's based on her life; it's based on your life, like, everybody.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Matsoukas explained that she was surprised with the professional standard of Rihanna's acting. The inspiration for Rihanna acting in the video came from when Matsoukas saw the clip for "Man Down" in April 2011; the director stated that she was taken aback at how Rihanna realistically re-enacted a rape scenario. Matsoukas described the process for choosing O'Shaughnessy as the male love interest, stating that Rihanna had asked her to find a man she could "fake fuck" while filming. The director said that she telephoned a boxer her friend had told her about, and asked him to make a tape of himself using the description of how the male love interest should act. When asked if any of the video was improvised, Matsoukas revealed that she would create a scenario and then it was left to Rihanna and O'Shaughnessy to elaborate upon what the director had given them. Matsoukas jokingly said that the scene in which O'Shaughnessy draws a tattoo on Rihanna's buttock cheek was not part of the video's treatment, and that O'Shaughnessy improvised it. Upon the video's release, multiple media outlets and music critics compared the content of the video to a reenactment of Rihanna and Brown's physical altercation. When asked about this, Matsoukas clarified that the video was not linked to Brown in any circumstance, and said, "[O'Shaughnessy] doesn't even really look like Chris Brown to me."

Synopsis The video begins with a monologue by fashion model Agyness Deyn about love and heartbreak:

During the narration, Rihanna and her lover are depicted in both love and hate scenarios. Before the song begins to play, lightning bolts are projected onto a wall in which Rihanna stands in front of. She and her lover are depicted as enamored with each other, and enjoying activities such as fairground rides and eating in fast food restaurants. During the chorus, images of drugs, pills, and dilated pupils are shown, while brief scenes of Rihanna and her boyfriend preparing to have sex are shown.

The chorus continues and the video cuts to a scene in which Rihanna and other people dance at an outside rave; Calvin Harris features as the DJ. As the second chorus begins, Rihanna and her boyfriend are happily running amok in a supermarket, pushing each other in a shopping cart and spraying canned drinks at each other. However, they begin arguing in a car. The video then shows the couple experiencing mounting difficulties in their relationship. They eventually begin to physically abuse one another. During the final chorus, a rewind of the whole event is shown, before Rihanna is seen vomiting streamers; she is also seen unconscious on the street while her boyfriend tries to revive her. After finding the boyfriend unconscious on the floor of his apartment, Rihanna decides she has had enough of the relationship and leaves him. The video ends with Rihanna curled up in the corner of a room, crying.

Release and reception

The video for "We Found Love" premiered on the website Whosay.com on October 19, 2011. Chris Coplan of Consequence of Sound praised the production of the video, noting its cinematic feel and that it shows the "ins and outs [and] ups and downs" of love. Coplan compared the video to the film Blue Valentine due to its sexualized content and a narrative that consists of a couple in a turbulent relationship. Erika Ramirez of Billboard magazine called the video artful and poignant, and noted that it shows "neon colors, explicit sex, bathtub embraces and painful arguments of the couple's world". Jocelyn Vena of MTV commented that although the song is upbeat and carefree, the video represents the antithesis, depicting "a dark look at love and substance abuse". Vena, like Coplan, noted that the song's video has a cinematic feel, calling it a "mini-movie". She compared the video to the films Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream, with regard to its opening monologue, which Vena thought foreshadowed the video.

Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone wrote, "the footage looks like a remake of Trainspotting, and, ["We Found Love"] matches its thumping rave beat to footage that often looks like a remake of Trainspotting". Amanda Dobbins of New York magazine was more critical of the video; she criticized Rihanna's undressing in a farmer's field as "the least of its provocations" and listed the activities the couple partake in: "smoking, drinking, dancing on fast-food tables, dancing at raves, heavy petting, stealing groceries, drunk wheelies, and bathing while fully clothed [and] candy-colored drugs". Dobbins noted that the list of illicit and frowned upon activities may aggravate parents and committees because of the explicit nature of the video, which caused controversy for Rihanna in her videos for "S&M" and "Man Down". Charlotte Cowles of the same publication commented that the voice-over provided by Deyn at the start of the video sounded "incredibly depressing".