Songfacts®:

• Rihanna addresses an ex who is still obsessively in love with her on this kiss-off. She scolds him for his feelings, making it clear to the former beau that the fling was purely physical. "Didn't I tell you that I was a savage," Rihanna assertively tosses off, characteristically nonchalant about breaking his heart.
• DJ Mustard, hip-hop's premier party beatmaker, supplied the choppy instrumentation. He was assisted by:
  
  The Australian record producing and song-writing duo Twice As Nice, whose other credits include Tiesto's "Wasted."
  
  Producer Frank Dukes, who is best known for his work with Drake on such songs as "0 to 100/ The Catch Up" and "Diamonds Dancing."
  
  Rihanna's regular collaborator, Kuk Harrell, who produced all her vocals on Anti.
• The Harmony Korine-directed video is very much NFSW. We see Rihanna getting contemplative wearing just a see-through negligee, heels and a thong. The Bajan beauty then gets violent shooting a tattooed strip club customer three times at close range.
  
  As well as directing controversial movies like Kids, Gummo and Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine has also previously shot music clips for The Black Keys, Sonic Youth and Cat Power. The cult American film-maker has other music connections. He co-wrote Björk's "Harm of Will" from her album Vespertine and "Florida Kilos," which is featured on the deluxe edition of Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence record.
  
  Also, the six tracks labeled "Harmony" on Spiritualized's Songs in A&E were named after a meeting with the director proved to be a turning point for mainman Jason Pierce.
• The processed vocal at the beginning is DJ Mustard giving himself a call-out: "Mustard on the beat, ho."
• "Needed Me" became Rihanna's longest-charting song on the Hot 100 when it rebounded 34-32 on its 42nd week on the list. It overtook the 41-week chart run of "We Found Love."
• The song was co-written by Starrah, whose other credits include Nicki Minaj's "No Frauds," Drake's "Fake Love" and Big Sean's "No Favors."
• Starrah told Billboard the lyrics were pulled directly from her own romantic history. "The way it translated to other people was a good feeling for me. It changed my perspective on my ability to write a universal song," she said. "I dated a girl who told me that I helped her get out of her old relationship with that song... That's crazy."