This Is What You Came For

Background and release

Calvin Harris presented the final recording to Rihanna, two weeks prior to its release. During his performance at Coachella, Harris shared the song with Rihanna and her manager in her trailer. Harris stated that he was "nervous" to play her the song because he had "changed so many bits from when she first heard it." The song was released on 29 April 2016. The song marks the pair's third collaboration, following the global chart-topper "We Found Love" and the Billboard Hot 100 top-five single "Where Have You Been", which are both featured on Rihanna's sixth studio album, Talk That Talk (2011).

Harris and Nils Sjöberg were credited as the song's writers. On 13 July 2016, TMZ reported that the track was co-written with Harris's then-girlfriend Taylor Swift, who used the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg because they did not want their relationship to overshadow the song. The track became a point of contention upon its release, when Harris—in response to being asked about the possibility of collaborating with Swift during an interview with Ryan Seacrest—said that he "can't see it happening." Harris also took to his Twitter account to confirm that Swift wrote the lyrics and contributed some vocals, while he "wrote the music, produced the song, arranged it and cut the vocals", and also confirming her previous request for secrecy as co-songwriter. The credit has since been officially changed to "Taylor Swift" in BMI's and ASCAP's entry for the song. Swift also has uncredited vocals on the song.

Composition

"This Is What You Came For" is an EDM song. Gil Kaufman of Billboard stated that the song is "a chilled-out, joyful club track that nods to classic Chicago house from the late 1980s and early 1990s, but with a modern, poppier flavor." The song is written in the key of A minor with a tempo of 124 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Am–Fmaj7–G–C, and Rihanna's vocals span from G₃ to E₅.

Music video

The official music video for the song directed by Emil Nava with Director of Photography Martin Coppen and edited by Ellie Johnson, was released to YouTube on 16 June 2016. In it, a giant white box is shown sitting in a variety of places, such as a misty field and a forest. The scene then cuts to Rihanna, dressed in a sparkly blue jumpsuit, singing while standing and dancing inside the box. While she performs, graphics are projected onto all 5 sides around her. Lasers were the only other effects used with the video projections, and were provided by Dynamic FX. These include a variety of video effects and designs, footage of a crowd partying and running horses, and a drawing of a mountain with lightning over it. The video technology used for projections blended all angles of the backing video, so it would be displayed without skewing the image and allowing it to play back in a 3D environment. This new technology was being used for the first time on this video. This video also had many scenes and different cube designs cut from it, as the filming was cut short due to time constrains. Calvin Harris makes a brief cameo appearance in the video, driving a sports car (Lamborghini Aventador). As the video ends, Rihanna walks outside, revealing the box has been set up on a dark, deserted soundstage. Two months after its release, the video reached 500 million views, and on 29 November 2016, the video reached one billion views. As of March 2017, it has reached 1.44 billion views, and is the site's 22nd most-watched video. Principle photography was shot in Astoria Queens, NY on May 27, 2016.

Critical reception

"This Is What You Came For" received mixed reviews. Lary Barleet from NME stated that "As it builds to a climax, he pulls it right back, eschewing the EDM drop in favour of voguish and mellow tropical house. It will definitely be a hit, however by manipulating her voice so much he’s stripped away the personality that made 'We Found Love' such a standout, and her latest album ‘Anti’ so compelling. The result is surprisingly soulless." Ryan Middleton from Music Times states "The song starts out with Rihanna's vocals and mostly cooing with a soft build that "drops" into a steady house, four-on-the-floor rhythm and deep bass stabs, using Rihanna's voice as the main element for the melody. It doesn't have the soaring, pop radio synths one might expect from these two, but then again this isn't 2011 and a simple revamp of 'We Found Love,' would be disappointing. The drop may be a little disappointing for fans upon first listen, but give a second, third or fifth spin and there is an earworm quality to this one that will stick with you for a while. It may not have the lasting power of 'We Found Love,' but it will dominate the radio all summer." He praised the song for creating a catchy hit, however he criticized Harris for failing to create anything new. Robbie Daw from the idolator gave the song a positive review, stating, "The song is pretty decent Euro-centric dance floor fodder. It’s just a bit subdued-which might have been the correct decision; why attempt to top a pop classic and fail when you can zig left, aiming for other territory altogether?"

NPR listed it at 89 on its "Top 100 Songs of 2016" list, while Fuse considered it the 10th best song of the year.

Chart performance

"This Is What You Came For" debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The single debuted at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 and later peaked at number three on the chart, becoming Rihanna's 28th top ten hit in the US, Harris's fourth, while on the magazine's Dance/Mix Show Airplay it extended Rihanna's number-one streak on that chart to 12 (the most of any artist on that chart) and gave Harris his tenth (the most among male artists, but at the same time extended his most weeks at number one on the chart among artists to 73). "This Is What You Came For" became Rihanna's 25th and Harris's fourth number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs Chart, where it became the first song since 2013's "Wake Me Up" to stay at number one for two weeks. "This Is What You Came For" debuted at number one on the Scottish Singles Chart, and peaked at number one in Australia, Canada and Ireland. The song also reached the top 10 in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Slovakia. The song has reached the top 10 in all except three of the countries it has charted in.

As of October 2016, the single has sold 1.2 million copies in the United States.

On January 31, 2017, Harris revealed via Snapchat his plaque from the RIAA that the song had been certified triple-platinum.

Live performances

Taylor Swift performed "This is What You Came For" on the piano for the first time live at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on October 22, 2016. Swift then performed an acoustic guitar version at the DirecTV Super Saturday Night in Houston, Texas on February 4, 2017.