We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

Aphoristical
September 6, 2026
2010s, NZ #1 hits

Barbadian singer Rihanna and Scottish DJ Calvin Harris found love in a hopeless place … judging by the music video, maybe Ireland.

8/10

We Found Love—Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

Topped the NZ charts for 9 weeks, starting on 24 October 2011.

More about my NZ number #1 project.

Rihanna

At the time of writing (September 2026), Rihanna hasn’t released an album for a decade. She’s had three children and enjoyed a successful business career.

But she was phenomenally successful in her prime. On the US charts, she’s achieved:

14 number-one songs
32 top-ten songs
60 weeks at number one
more weeks in the top ten (360) than any other artist.

We Found Love

Scottish DJ Calvin Harris wrote ‘We Found Love’ for Rihanna. It’s unusual to have a modern pop song with a sole writer.

“It could have been Jumpin Jaks in Dumfries. I don’t know exactly what I was thinking about. I was just playing the song and doing nonsense singing to see if the syllables fitted the song. It was like that. I was singing nonsense and that’s how the lyrics happened.”
Calvin Harris, Q Magazine

The main hook is energetic and ingratiating – Harris comes from the EDM world, offering a slightly different sound than a pop producer

Leona Lewis and Nicole Scherzinger both claimed that they were offered the song first, with Lewis defiantly proclaiming that her version was better.

The song became inescapable. Harris told MTV that “I’ve heard it a lot. I’ve heard it probably more times today than I did when I was mixing it. Which is a good thing.”

My Verdict

Harris’s EDM sound works nicely for Rihanna. Her voice sounds great floating above Harris’s synths and alarms.

There’s a feeling of empty calories, but it’s a pop song I’m always happy to hear.

The aftermath

Rihanna continued as a hit-making machine until 2016’s ANTI. Since then, she’s stepped back from music, although it feels like she’s still beloved and would sell millions if she wanted to.

‘We Found Love’ turbo-charged Harris’s career. He told MTV that “It changed absolutely everything. Career-wise, it was the best thing that could ever have happened.”