Sophia Rohrs

English 1201.506

Professor Freeland

17 February 2022

Analyzing “Love On The Brain”

The song 2016 version of "Love On The Brain" by Rihanna shows Rihanna having

flashbacks of when she was with a man and how much she can't get his brain off of him. The

2017 version of "Love On The Brain" by Rihanna shows how Rihanna loves a guy and he

consumes all of her thoughts. The versions are similar however the 2016 version shows

flashbacks and the 2017 version talks about a current situation.

The audiences of the two music videos are different. The 2016 version of the song is

written for those who are struggling with letting go of something bug in their life. This video

shows Rihanna having flashbacks of being with a guy who took up a lot of her time and thoughts

in her life. The 2017 version of the song is written for those who have something big in their life

and it consumes all of their thoughts. The video was made like this so others know that everyone

has things that are going to take over their life, but you need to learn to deal with it so it doesn’t

get out of control.

In both songs the main character is Rihanna and the other character that is involved is

Rihanna’s lover/ex. Both music videos are presented in black and white to make the mood of the

song sad and to make it more dramatic. They also show clips of Rihanna and her lover/ex having

a good time together, which shows the viewers why it is so hard for Rihanna to get him out of

her head.
 Both music videos show Rihanna thinking constantly about her lover/ex. The 2016

version of the song “Love on the Brain” shows how Rihanna keeps having flashbacks of her and

her ex and they are consuming all of her time. The video shows that she can’t get her mind off of

her ex. In one part of the video it shows Rihanna and her ex laughing and having a good time and

then she gets back to reality and she looks upset. The 2017 version of the song “Love on the

Brain” shows how Rihanna keeps having thoughts about her lover and it is consuming all of her

time. The video shows her getting in trouble and not getting the things done that she needs to

because she cannot stop thinking about him. In one part of the video she gets pulled over because

she is driving too fast, due to her not being focused on the road but instead thinking about her

lover.

In both of the music videos, Rihanna cannot stop thinking about a man. However, the

reasoning for why she can’t stop thinking about him is different in each video, in one video the

man is her lover and in the other the man is her ex. The story being told in the 2016 version of

the song is that Rihanna’s ex, who was a big part of her life, broke up with her. Then she kept

having flashbacks of her ex as she is just trying to live her life. These flashbacks are taking up a

lot of time in her life and the video shows her struggling to not let the flashbacks get to her. The

story being told in the 2017 version of the song is that Rihanna is in love with a man. She is so

deeply in love with him that all she can ever think about is him. The video shows these thoughts

consuming her life, she gets in trouble because she isn’t paying attention and is just thinking

about her man.

The lyrics of both of the songs are the same, but the two music videos that were made

about the song have different meanings. One is about Rihanna and her lover and the other one is

about Rihanna and her ex. The audiences are slightly different for the songs as well as the props.
Both videos were made in black and white to give off a more dramatic effect. The people in the

videos were the same, it was Rihanna and either her ex or her lover (shown as the same man

across the two videos). Overall, the main claims of each music video of the song “Love on the

Brain” are different.

 Works Cited

Rihanna - Love on the Brain (Official Video ... - Youtube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiNV4eWYpxU.

“2016 Version of Love on the Brain by Rihanna.” YouTube, YouTube,

www.youtube.com/?gl=DE.