Rihanna has previously spoken candidly about what she enjoys in the bedroom, where those preferences come from, and how much her hit ‘S&M’ reflects her real life.
“Cause I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it. Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me.”
If you were anywhere near a radio in 2010, there’s a good chance you can still hear that chorus in your head.
Plenty of people were belting it out back then without fully clocking what the song was actually describing.
But for older listeners, the lyrics didn’t exactly sound like they were written purely for shock value — they came across as someone putting their tastes on record.
And in Rihanna’s case, that reading wasn’t far off.
The Rude Boy singer has long woven sexuality into her music, often hinting at specific fantasies and power dynamics. Tracks like her DJ Khaled collaboration Wild Thoughts, the sleek Kiss it Better, and Te amo have all been read as having heavier subtext than their surface-level hooks suggest.
So when she opened up in a Rolling Stone interview a year after S&M dropped, it fit the pattern — she didn’t dodge the topic, and she didn’t soften the details.
“I like to take charge, but I love to be submissive. Being submissive in the bedroom is really fun,” she told the outlet in 2011, revealing: “You get to be a little lady, to have somebody be macho and in charge of your s***. That’s fun to me.”
She also spelled out a couple of specific things she enjoys.
She went on to add of her likes: “I like to be spanked. Being tied up is fun.”
At the same time, she said she prefers things not to feel too rehearsed — especially when props enter the equation.
She explained: “I work a lot, and I have to make a lot of executive decisions, so when it comes to being intimate, I like to feel like I’m somebody’s girl.”
She said: “Sometimes whips and chains can be overly planned – you gotta stop, get the whip from the drawer downstairs. I’d rather have him use his hands.”
The most recent major moment where Rihanna spoke at length about her sex life came in an interview with Vanity Fair, when she reflected on how one-night stands left her feeling emotionally drained.
Rihanna said: “That to me is a hollow move. I would wake up the next day feeling like s***. That’s why I haven’t been having sex or even really seeing anybody. Because I don’t want to wake up the next day feeling guilty. I mean, I get horny, I’m human, I’m a woman, I want to have sex.”
She continued: “But what am I going to do — just find the first random cute dude that I think is going to be a great ride for the night and then tomorrow I wake up feeling empty and hollow? He has a great story and I’m like… ‘What am I doing?’ I can’t do it to myself. I cannot. It has a little bit to do with fame and a lot to do with the woman that I am. And that saves me.”