Home Interviews Rihanna Calls ‘Love The Way You Lie’ Sequel ‘A Challenge’.

Rihanna Calls ‘Love The Way You Lie’ Sequel ‘A Challenge’.

November 10, 2010

Rihan-MAdrid — Rihanna
Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images

Rihanna Calls ‘Love The Way You Lie’ Sequel ‘A Challenge’
‘The original, it was so massive, so it’s hard to do a version that’s kind of like that,’ she tells MTV News at the EMAs.

MADRID — Rihanna has already said that she was initially “completely against” including a “Love the Way You Lie” sequel on her upcoming Loud album, but — as the recent leak of the track can attest — she eventually softened her stance.

So what made her change her mind? It’s all due to the tireless trial-and-error work of producer Alex Da Kid, who not only crafted the original version of the song, but tinkered at length on “Part II,” eventually coming up with an updated take on the track that had Rihanna’s head spinning.

” ‘Love the Way You Lie (Part II)’ actually started off just as a broken-down piano version,” she told MTV News at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards on Sunday. “And then we added some drums, and then we added Eminem, and finally we came up with the version we love.”

Though Rihanna is quick to praise the contributions of Eminem, who once again goes verse-for-verse with her on the sequel, she didn’t waste any time in applauding the efforts of Alex Da Kid either. After all, he knew the challenge in following-up a smash hit — and he was more than up to the task.

“Alex is amazing,” Rihanna said. “That was the challenge: How do you compete with ‘Love the Way You Lie’ part one? The original, it was so massive, so it’s hard to do a version that’s kind of like that, but Alex, he changed the drums up and surprised me once again. … I love it.