Drake & Rihanna's Social Media Interactions Are So Freaking Hot & Cold
Celebrity relationships and friendships are a rare breed. These famous faces have their lives played out in front of the masses, whether it’s the good, the bad, or the straight-up shady. In Elite Daily’s new series, It’s Complicated, we’re highlighting the biggest celebrity “feuds” that took over Hollywood and dominated our Sunday brunches for weeks on end. We’ll take a deep dive into the lives and social media feeds of our favorite stars and dissect what happened in front of the camera, what went down behind the scenes, and everything you might have missed in between.
When thinking of "complicated" relationships, Drake and Rihanna immediately come to mind because it's hard to put a label on the pair. Even Rihanna doesn't know what to call her relationship with Drake. In her interview with Vogue in June 2018, Rihanna revealed, “We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is." But what is that supposed to mean, exactly? Yes, fans have seen them collaborate on tracks like "Work" and "What's My Name?," but working together professionally doesn't always mean the artists involved are close. Heck, most collabs nowadays don't even require the artists to be in the same room together. So while the stars collaborate just fine through music, Drake and Rihanna's social media interactions reveal another long, complicated story.
NOVEMBER 2010: DRAKE GIVES RIHANNA A SHOUTOUT FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF "WHAT'S MY NAME?"
2010 was a different time, and if you ask me, it was probably one of the best years for music. As for what Rihanna and Drake were up to in 2010, well, the answer is that they were both releasing new music (duh). In June, Rihanna collaborated with Eminem on "Love the Way You Lie," while Drake released his debut studio album, Thank Me Later.
Then, on November 12, Rihanna dropped her fifth studio album, Loud, which included her iconic collab with Drake, "What's My Name?"
A day after the two released the collab together, Drake tweeted Rihanna a simple ":)." While he didn't say much, it was certainly enough. Fans knew that his cute shoutout to Rihanna was meant as a celebration of the pair's first collaboration together.
SEPTEMBER 2013: RIHANNA TWEETS LYRICS TO DRAKE'S NEW ALBUM
Before Drake officially released his third album, Nothing Was The Same, on Sept. 24, 2013, it was leaked online days before on Sept. 17, which prompted Rihanna to share some lyrics from Drake's new album on Twitter. She tweeted lyrics from four of Drake's new songs, including "The Language," "Wu-Tang Forever," "Own It," and "Too Much," which shows that she was clearly Drake fan.
AUGUST 2016: DRAKE SURPRISES RIHANNA WITH A MASSIVE BILLBOARD
Ahead of the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV announced that it would be presenting Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. To celebrate, Drake bought Rihanna a huge billboard in Los Angeles that read, "Congraulations to Rihanna from Drake and Everyone at OVO."
Rihanna shared a picture of the billboard to her Instagram page, and captioned the photo, "When he extra," paired with emojis of a black heart and a golden trophy.
This all happened just a month after Drake and Rihanna released their collaboration for "Too Good" together in July, so rumors about the musical pair dating were majorly heating up already. Obviously, the billboard did nothing to quell the rumors. But it remains unclear whether Drake's gesture was meant as romantic or just platonic. Either way, the two were clearly still on good terms.
JANUARY 2017: RIHANNA SEEMINGLY SHADES DRAKE ON INSTAGRAM
Of course, that all changed after the 2016 MTV VMAs. By January that following year, rumors swirled that Drake was dating Jennifer Lopez. Despite Jennifer Lopez denying the rumors, fans weren't so convinced because of all the PDA Lopez and Drake were showing on social media.
Since fans believed Drake moved on, they thought Rihanna shaded him on Instagram.
According to the Inquisitr, Rihanna's best friend Melissa Forde shared a text post that read, "Your #MCM be knocking over girls in the VIP to stand next to rappers."
The "Work" singer then reportedly replied with a crying emoji, along with the comment, "and athletes," which fans believed was aimed at Drake since he's been known to attend a lot of NBA games.
AUGUST 2017: DRAKE WEARS RIHANNA-INSPIRED SOCKS
OK, so were Rihanna and Drake on bad terms? It's hard to tell. That summer, Drake shared a photo of himself that raised a lot of questions about his relationship with Rihanna. In the photo, Drake wore socks from Rihanna's collaboration with Fenty.
According to Billboard, those were Rihanna's "Fenty for Stance" socks, which had a stitching of Rihanna wearing the outfit from her and Drake's "Work" music video. OMG.
What made the post even more suspicious was that Rihanna shared a picture of those socks just a few days before Drake's post.
Who knew that a pair of socks could cause so much drama?
MAY 2018: DRAKE UNFOLLOWS RIHANNA ON INSTAGRAM
For Vogue's June 2018 issue, Rihanna opened up about her relationship with Drake, but things didn't sound too good between them. First, Vogue writer Chioma Nnadi said Rihanna "winced" when Drake's name was brought up during the interview, and then Rihanna revealed that Drake's speech to her during the 2016 BBMAs did not sit well with her.
She said, "Waiting through that speech was probably the most uncomfortable part. I don’t like too many compliments. I don’t like to be put on blast."
Rihanna then revealed, “We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is."
Soon afterward, Drake unfollowed Rihanna on Instagram. Ouch.
So, what now? Drake and Rihanna haven't interacted at all on social media. They don't even follow each other anymore so, as to whether the two are friends or not, it's hard to say. As Rihanna put it best, "It is what it is," whatever that means.
