Songfacts®:

• In this power-pop ballad, Rihanna sings about a couple who sleep beside each other but feel "10,000 miles apart." A California King Bed is four inches longer than a standard king bed, but this couple's emotional distance is far greater.
• The song is part of Rihanna's fifth album, Loud. After the darker sounds of Rihanna's previous album Rated R, which she recorded in the wake of her former boyfriend Chris Brown's violent assault on her, Loud generally has more upbeat sounds. However, this is one of the slower tracks the Bajan singer recorded for the album. Rihanna explained to UK radio station 95.8 Capital FM: "The ballads on this album are really special. I didn't want to just put a bunch of ballads on the album, I actually wanted to keep it minimal with slow records. But there are really two powerful ballads. One is called 'Straight Up Beautiful' and the other one is called 'California King Bed,' which is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's probably going to be the biggest song on the album."
• Rihanna explained the meaning of the song to Capital FM: "It's talking about being this close to someone yet feeling so far away, like falling out of love."
• At the beginning of March 2011, Rihanna asked fans to help her select her fourth single from Loud via twitter. They were requested to choose from "California King Bed," "Cheers (Drink To That)," Man Down or "Fading". The most popular choice proved to be this ballad, which was then released as the next single from the album.
• Rihanna wrote the song with Muni Long and Alex Delicata, along with the track's producers, Andrew Harr and Jermaine Jackson, known as The Runners.
  
  Muni Long released a solo album a year earlier, but it didn't get very far so she dedicated herself to writing for other artists. Credited as either Priscilla Renea or Priscilla Hamilton, her credits include "Worth It" by Fifth Harmony and "Timber" by Pitbull. She took another crack at recording in 2022 with the album Public Displays of Affection, which includes the hit "Hrs And Hrs."
• The song's music video was shot in one day on a Hollywood stage in West Hollywood and is set mainly in a bedroom, but also on a tropical sandy beach. The director was Anthony Mandler, who is a regular collaborator of Rihanna. He told MTV News: "I think the song and the theme of this song, she wanted to obviously show a softer side, a lighter side, one that's caught in maybe a tumultuous relationship. But not let the tumultuous relationship dominate the visual, really counterbalance it with tension-filled chaotic beauty."
• The Nivea company helped pay for the video in exchange for using the song in its commercials.
• Muni Long revealed to Complex that she had other things on her mind when she wrote "California King Bed."
  
  Imagine the scene: Miami's sun-drenched sprawl, Long perched in the We the Best studio alongside Jermaine Jackson. "They already had the music prepared," Long reminisced, "I listened, went back into the room, and they gave me the file."
  
  But songwriting wasn't the sole occupant of Long's thoughts that day. "I was actually online browsing furniture for my upcoming move to Los Angeles," she confessed.
  
  As Long tinkered away, Jackson strolled in, casually inquiring about the song's progress. Faced with the prospect of a blank page and a critical music industry veteran, inspiration struck Long like a bolt of lightning. "California King Bed," the title tumbled out of her mouth, and to her surprise, Jackson offered a curt, "OK."
  
  This green light sent Long into a creative flurry. Fueled by the pressing need to wrap things up and get back to those virtual couches, she completed "California King Bed" in record-breaking time. "I wrote the song in like 10 minutes," she declared. "I wanted to get it done quickly so I could go back to looking for furniture."