"Russian Roulette" is "Rated R" ' lead single written and produced by Ne-Yo and Chuck Harmony. Lyrically, the single is about an abusive romantic relationship that ended abruptly. Critics noted the lyrical theme as a response to the domestic violence case between Rihanna and her boyfriend, fellow R&B singer Chris Brown. In an interview with MTV News, American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo clarified that he would not write a song for Rihanna about Brown, because he considered the idea unnecessary. Producer Chuck Harmony said that no matter what song Rihanna released as a lead single from the album, it would be looked at as a song about Brown. In 2009, Harmony and Ne-Yo convened together for to conceptualize a song for Rihanna, that would take her music to a further level. According to Harmony, they didn't wanted to re-work the previous efforts by Rihanna—something that according to him the fans expected The producer told MTV News that they wanted to give Rihanna a film, not just a song with a length of three minutes, "I felt musically like everybody was gonna give like that 'Disturbia,' 'SOS,' kind of pop, uptempo stuff, and I really wanted the song that me and Ne-Yo did to stand out." In an interview with the same publication, Ne-Yo explained how he wrote the lyrics, "I'm listening to the track, and all I can see is Rihanna and some random person sitting across from each other at the table with a gun sitting in the middle of the table and playing Russian roulette." Ne-Yo further stated that Rihanna is not afraid to trying new things and from the first moment she heard the song he knew she would like it, "I trust Rihanna to be Rihanna, and she trusts me to be me. That's the coolest thing about our relationship. I must say this song is a step in somewhat of a different direction for both of us." When Harmony heard the song, both him and Ne-Yo were aware that they should change some elements and that it has to be darker and edgier.
Position Peaks :
Australia : 7
Canada : 9
France : 4
Germany : 2
UK : 2
USA : 9
Estimated WW sales : 3,500,000
Estimated UK sales : 465.000
Estimated US sales : 2.000.000