"Nobody's Business" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her seventh studio album Unapologetic (2012). Co-written by Rihanna together with its producers Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Carlos "Los" McKinney, it features guest vocals by American singer Chris Brown. It is their third collaboration following the domestic violence case that happened between them in 2009. "Nobody's Business" is a house, disco-pop and R&B-funk song that mixes Chicago stepping and features strings, piano, and a four-on-the-floor kick drum. It contains interpolation of the 1987 single "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson.
"Nobody's Business" received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics with many of them labeling the song as standout on the album. Despite that, some journalists criticized Rihanna's decision to collaborate with Brown again because of their former relationship and domestic violence case. Following the release of Unapologetic, as a result of the strong digital downloads, the song charted on multiple charts worldwide; it peaked at number 36 on the French Singles Chart, number seven on the UK Singles R&B Chart, number 63 on the UK Singles Chart and number 39 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Background and production
On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 51st Grammy Awards was cancelled. Reports later surfaced regarding an altercation with then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, who was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with assault and making criminal threats. Over 3 years after the incident, in January 2012, Rihanna was intending to remix the interlude "Birthday Cake" from her 2011 studio album Talk That Talk. On February 15, 2012, Kosine of Da Internz, who produced the interlude, revealed that the featured collaborator will "shock the world," and that the full length version would premiere between February 16, and February 20, 2012. The full length version of "Birthday Cake" revealed to feature Brown and was released on Rihanna's birthday, February 20, 2012." Subsequently, Rihanna lent her vocals to the remix of Brown's 2012 single "Turn Up the Music". Following the leak of the remixes, Rihanna's decision to collaborate with Brown after the 2009 altercation, was largely criticized by media.
In March 2012, Rihanna began "working on the new sound" for her seventh studio album, even though she had not yet begun recording. On September 12, 2012, Def Jam France announced via Twitter that Rihanna would release a new single the upcoming week while her seventh studio album was scheduled to be released in November 2012. On October 11, 2012, in one of her tweets revealed that the title of her new album is Unapologetic along with its cover. On November 6, the singer posted the official track listing of the album, on which there was a song titled "Nobody's Business" that featured Brown. Rihanna co-wrote the song together with its producers Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Carlos "Los" McKinney. Bart Schoudel recorded the track at the Sarm Studios in London and at the Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. The vocal recording of "Nobody's Business" was done by Kuk Harrell and Marcos Tovar, while Harrel also did the vocal production of the song. Blake Mares and Robert Cohen served as assistant vocal engineers of the track. It was mixed at the Larabee Studios in Los Angeles by Manny Marroquin.
Composition and lyrical interpretation
"Nobody's Business" is a House, disco-pop, pop and R&B-funk song with a length of three minutes and thirty-six seconds. Smokey D. Fontaine of The Urban Daily described it as "a perfect blend of R&B soul and pop feel-good with an irresistible sing-in-the-shower falsetto hook." The track contains interpolation from the composition "The Way You Make Me Feel" (1987) as written and performed by Michael Jackson. Additionally, it has disco-driven influences and "funkified" upbeat tempo. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune wrote that "Nobody's Business" mixes Chicago stepping and house styles and features strings, piano, and a four-on-the-floor kick drum. Billboard'''s magazine stuff described it as a "wonderfully catchy throwback to early-90s club music", while according to Dan Martin of NME is a swinging summer jam. Writing for The New York Times, Jon Caramanica stated that "Nobody's Business" is gelatinous, smooth, and carefree.