Te Amo

Album: Rated R (2009)
Charted: 14
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song, Rihanna has an intimate encounter with an alluring woman who tells her, "te amo," which she's pretty sure means "I love you" (it does). For the rest of the song, Rihanna tries to decide how far she's willing to go with it, as her heart and mind do a push-and-pull. It's all the more mysterious because this lady is speaking to her in Spanish.
  • Rihanna released a lot of music from 2005-2012, when she put out seven albums and did a bunch of collaborations. This song came in the middle of that run, included on her fourth album, Rated R. The song is a paean to her international audience and released as a single in many countries outside the US. She was always mixing up her musical flavors, so it was only a matter of time before she did a song in Spanglish. Her lyrical themes were also constantly in flux, and here she mixes things up by making her love interest a woman.
  • "Te Amo" is one of Rihanna's many collaborations with the Norwegian production duo Stargate, who also supplied the tracks for her hits "Take A Bow" and "Hate That I Love You." Rihanna wrote the lyrics with James Fauntleroy, a songwriter who worked on six tracks from Rated R. The Spanish guitar is by a Norwegian named Bernt Rune Stray.
  • The steamy music video was shot on April 29 and 30, 2010, at Vigny, France in the Château de Vigny and was directed by Anthony Mandler. The French supermodel Laetitia Casta plays the femme fatale.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Guy Clark

Guy ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett are just a few of the artists who have looked to Clark for insightful, intelligent songs.

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Adam Duritz of Counting Crows

Adam Duritz of Counting CrowsSongwriter Interviews

"Mr. Jones" took on new meaning when the song about a misguided view of fame made Adam famous.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Black Sabbath

Black SabbathFact or Fiction

Dwarfs on stage with an oversize Stonehenge set? Dabbling in Satanism? Find out which Spinal Tap-moments were true for Black Sabbath.

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" Album

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" AlbumSong Writing

In the summer of 1990, you could get arrested for selling a 2 Live Crew album or performing their songs in Southern Florida. And that's exactly what happened.