The singer/songwriter opened up about the origin story of the song in an interview with ‘Complex’ on Monday
Muni Long had other things on her mind when she wrote one of Rihanna’s hits.
In an interview with Complex on Monday, the singer/songwriter (whose real name is Priscilla Renea) opened up about the origin story of Rihanna’s 2010 breakup power ballad “California King Bed.”
When writing the song featured on Loud, Long, 34, recalls she was living in Miami and working out of We the Best studio with Jermaine [Jackson] from The Runners.
“They had the chords and everything. I listened, I went back into the room, and they gave me the file,” she told the publication.
Long continued: “At the time I was planning to move to L.A. I was actually online looking for furniture when Maine comes in the room, and he’s like, ‘What you got?’ I didn’t have anything, because I had been messing around, and I looked at my computer.”
That’s when she came up with a title.
“I said ‘California King Bed,’ and he said, ‘OK,’ and then he left. So I was like, ‘Oh, now I gotta write that,’ Long recalled.
She added: “I wrote the song in like 10 minutes. I was like, ‘Turn it up, let me get this done real quick,’ so I could go back to looking for my furniture.”
Long revealed that the song was originally supposed to go to Kelly Clarkson, but her publisher decided “they were going to cut it for Rihanna.”
“I was super excited,” she recalled. “She was on tour at the time, but she cut the song, and the rest is history. You wouldn’t think that she would do something like that.”
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Rihanna/YouTube
Rihanna in the “California King Bed” music video in 2011
Long describes that the song’s impact on her own career was “massive.”
“After that, I did work with her in the studio many times, but that was my first entry point into my journey with Rih,” she said.
After releasing music and writing hit songs for artists like Fifth Harmony, Rihanna and Ariana Grande, the R&B musician relaunched her career as Long in 2019. Last year Long earned three Grammy nominations and took home a Grammy for best R&B performance for “Hrs & Hrs.”
“Working behind the scenes for so many years felt like I just had a job,” Long told PEOPLE. “When I unplugged from that way of thinking, I really started to see a shift.”
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