Rihanna - What Now

What this video is

Released November 15, 2013, 'What Now' was the fifth single from Rihanna's seventh studio album Unapologetic (2012), a record that debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The video arrived during a cultural moment in which R&B pop videos were increasingly gravitating toward cinematic, psychologically dark visual languages — partly influenced by the mainstreaming of horror aesthetics in fashion and editorial…

Why it matters

A landmark example of early-2010s dark pop video aesthetics applied to a piano-led R&B power ballad. The video's double-exposure compositing, horror-film lighting, and dissociative editing represent a high-water mark of the surrealist treatment of emotional vulnerability in mainstream commercial…

The director

Jeff Nicholas and Jonathan Craven are a directing duo operating under the Uprising Creativity production banner. They are known for atmospheric, visually layered music video work in the early-to-mid 2010s. The trio also includes director Darren Craig. All…