Disturbia (song) - Background

Background

"Disturbia" was written by American recording artist Chris Brown and his team which included Brian Kennedy, Rob. A and Andre Merritt, better known as the Graffiti Artizts. The track was originally considered to be part of the re-release edition of Brown's album, Exclusive (2007). However, after finishing the song, he took preference to another song, "Forever", which later became the lead single from his re-released album, titled Exclusive: The Forever Edition (2008). He felt that "Disturbia" would be better suited for a female singer and instead forwarded the song to Rihanna. When writing the song, he was inspired "to go totally left and kind of weird". Speaking to USA Today, Brown described his feelings with regard to him giving the song to Rihanna: "It's fun being creative and even if you have a concept in your head to write about, you can write it and give it and give it to someone else because it might not personally fit you, but it might be an idea you have."

"Disturbia" was recorded in 2008 at Rocky Mountain Recorders in Denver, Colorado. Speaking to Nick Levine of Digital Spy, she explained: "I went into the studio making music my way. I found myself all at once." In an interview on This Morning, Rihanna said that the song is not necessarily about a specific personal experience, but rather the general feelings of mental anguish, anxiety and confusion. Rihanna further explained that she wanted to record the song because she felt that listeners would be able to relate to the subject matter. When Good Girl Gone Bad was repackaged, Rihanna approached L.A. Reid, boss of Def Jam, suggesting to release "Disturbia" as a single and follow-up to "Take a Bow". Speaking to MTV News, Reid said, "It was the first time Rihanna actually came to me and said, 'Here's the song I want to put out.' She played me the song. That was her taking control She understands what hits are, and she knows what she wants to say. She's at that place where she can do that."