Grownkoski Blog: rihanna pictures gq

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"S&M" debuted at number fifty-three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart upon the album's release and peaked at number two. With the release of the remix, digital sales pushed the song to the top of the chart for one week, giving Rihanna her tenth number one single on the chart and Spears her fifth. The song also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and Pop Songs chart, respectively. "S&M" reached number one in Australia, Canada, and Poland, and on the UK R&B Chart. The song attained top-five positions on the German, French, British, Irish, and Spanish charts.

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Melina Matsoukas and presents Rihanna's opinions of the media, by punishing the ones who have written negatively about her or personally hurt her, while portraying metaphorical sadomasochist related scenes and fetishes. The video was banned in several countries and restricted to night time television play in others, due to the explicit content of the video. The video spawned a lawsuit when photographer David LaChapelle alleged that the video used imagery from his photo shoot for Vogue Italia. Rihanna performed the song for the first time at the 2011 BRIT Awards at London's O2 Arena on February 15, 2011, as a part of a medley with "Only Girl (In the World)" and "What's My Name?".

"S&M" received garnered mixed responses from music critics. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine and Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun Times noted that "S&M" was reminiscent of the darker themes present in Rihanna's previous album, Rated R (2009). Cinquenmani went on to describe "S&M" as an ode to sadomasochism, "that would make various parts of Janet Jackson's body perk up". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly called the song an "explicitly carnal opener" featuring "late-night-Cinemax naughtiness". Jake Conway of British music magazine Q wrote that the song's lyrics showed that "Rihanna proves why she remains one of the most provocative artists in pop music. Precisely by divesting sex of emotion and re-imagining violence as fetish ("sticks and stone may break my bones / but chains and whips excite me"), Rihanna turns the tables on abusive ex-lover Chris Brown in this heady dance club tribute to bondage — empowered, and as terrifyingly sexy as ever". Nick Levine of British entertainment and media news site Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, writing, "Icky slip-up aside, this club pop thumper gets you just as up-for-it as the Mail-baiting Bajan herself". Meg Sullivan of The Music Magazine gave a mixed review, noting that "Admittedly it is a catchy tune, and doesn't take much to remember the lyrics, as 50% of them are 'oh na-na-na-na, come on,' a classic sign of 'I had nothing else decent to write'. Other than that, the lyrical content is written purposely to shock/offend. Yet in all honesty, these days I'd be more shocked if her next single WASN'T [sic] about her sexual desires." Chris Ryan of MTV described the song as being about "Dirty, naughty, illicit bedroom activities".

"S&M" made its first chart appearance in the UK on November 15, 2010, debuting on the UK Singles Chart at number fifty-five on November 27, 2010. The song peaked at number three, where it remained for three consecutive weeks; "S&M" was Rihanna's fourteenth top-three song on the chart. It was more successful on the UK R&B Chart, where it peaked at number one for five consecutive weeks. The song has since been certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) denoting sales of over 200,000 copies. Elsewhere in Europe, "S&M" was a commercial success, peaking within the top three in many countries. In Poland, the song peaked at number one on the Polish Singles Chart dated April 23, 2011, for two consecutive weeks. In Denmark, "S&M" debuted on the Danish Singles Chart on February 11, 2011, at number thirty-four and peaked at number two for one week. "S&M" also peaked at number two in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. In France, the song debuted on the November 29, 2011 French Singles Chart at number twenty-two and eventually peaked at number three for two consecutive weeks. The song also peaked within the top-five in Austria, Finland, and Spain. The song reached the top ten in Italy and the Netherlands, peaking at number six and seven, respectively. "S&M" also charted at number eight in the Czech Republic. The song has since been certified gold in Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as platinum in Switzerland. As of July 26, "S&M" has sold 1.05 million copies across Europe.