Rihanna will release 2 new singles soon, due to high demand from her fans: the ballad California King Bed and the reggae-flavored Man Down, both taken from her current album Loud. (Man Down rumored single cover pictured on the right). It is not clear yet whether both singles will be released internationally or California King Bed will go worldwide, while Man Down will be her North American single. She shot videos for both songs, so it will be difficult to keep either song in just a designated territory. I am assuming it is going to end up to where stations will pick up whichever song they want to play, especially in Europe. Officially, California King Bed will be sent to pop radio, while Man Down will go to urban and rhythmic radio, thus covering all bases.
While I don't think releasing both tracks at the same time is a good idea, because they might hurt each other's sales, she needs another single to back up the CKB ballad, since releasing ballads over summer is always risky. Personally, I would have released Man Down now and CKB in the fall, but they never asked for my opinion, bummer. Oh yeah and I also prefer Man Down between the two. Not only it's one of the best tracks on her Loud album, but it's nice to see Rihanna go back to her Caribbean roots with this little reggae number and leave the 'safe' pop/dance territory for a while. The video for California King Bed will debut in less than 10 days as it is already finished, with Man Down following later this month. Interestingly enough, the songs will debut on radio in the opposite order. Man Down has already been sent to radio with CKB to follow soon. Rihanna shot the video for Man Down in Jamaica last weekend and if you scroll down, you can see some candid pics from the set.
Photos from Rihannadaily.com
