Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ Director Talks ‘Toxic’ Storylines

Rihanna and acclaimed video director Melina Matsoukas have natural creative chemistry -- which is why the Bajan banger has chosen Matsoukas to direct no less than five of her music videos, including her most recent vid for 'We Found Love.' The controversial clip has everyone talking, including Matsoukas, who recently spoke out about the video's risque content. Matsoukas says that despite what some have been claiming, it's not about domestic violence.

"It's really just about [a relationship] being toxic," Matsoukas told MTV News. "It's not trying to glorify that type of relationship. The bad parts of it, that's what you don't want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life. The drugs and the addiction and the toxic -- that's what brings her downfall and brings a lot of harm."

Rihanna has taken flak for the video's alleged promotion of drugs and criminal mischief, but Matsoukas said that it's in no way meant to glorify bad behavior.

"We love, obviously, to do provocative imagery... we always try to definitely push the limits," Matsoukas said. But the real goal of the video, she explained, was to tell a universal story. "It's not Rihanna's story; it's her story in the video, and she's acting. But everybody's [as well]. Obviously, there's a lot of comparisons to her real life, and that's not at all the intention. It's just that I guess people naturally go there because art imitates life, and it's a story we all relate to and we've all experienced."

The video's surreal aesthetic further distances it from the reality of life. "[F]inding those little moments like the cigarettes, the ribbons and all this archival footage in there, and the projection stuff throughout it gives it that surreal thing," Matsoukas said.

We're buying it -- at least until the next time we puke ribbons after a bad night.