Who's That Chick?

The Story of "Who's That Chick?" by David Guetta Featuring Rihanna

Imagine the turn of the decade in late 2010, when the global dance-music takeover was in full force and French superstar producer David Guetta seemed to have his hand on every major pop hit of the moment. Pair that magic touch with the rising power of Rihanna, then one of the biggest voices in the world, and you have "Who's That Chick?," a glittering, propulsive slice of electro-pop built for nothing but the dance floor.

The Producer Who Conquered Pop

By 2010, David Guetta had transformed from a respected club DJ into one of the most powerful hitmakers on the planet, single-handedly helping to drag electronic dance music into the heart of the mainstream pop chart. His album One Love and its surrounding singles paired his pulsing productions with a who's who of pop and hip-hop vocalists. Teaming with Rihanna was a natural move; she was at the absolute peak of her commercial dominance, and her voice cut through Guetta's sleek productions like a beam of neon light. The two had already struck gold together, and pairing the most in-demand producer in dance music with one of the most ubiquitous voices in pop was the kind of collaboration the era seemed to demand. It was less a creative gamble than a near-guarantee of dance-floor success.

The Sound of the Dance Floor

The track is pure, unapologetic electro-pop euphoria. It pairs Guetta's pounding beat and surging synths with Rihanna's bright, infectious vocal, building toward a chorus designed to detonate in clubs around the world. There is nothing subtle about it, and that is entirely the point. The song exists to make people move, a high-energy burst of light and rhythm that captures the exact sound of the dance-pop wave Guetta had helped unleash on the charts. The structure follows the era's winning formula precisely, building tension through the verses before releasing it in an explosive, synth-soaked drop made for a packed club. Rihanna's vocal is processed and layered to fit seamlessly into that electronic architecture, becoming as much an instrument as a voice. It is a textbook example of the producer-driven pop that defined the moment.

A Modest Chart Showing

On the American chart the song was a smaller hit than the pair's combined star power might suggest, though it performed far better internationally. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated December 11, 2010, at number 51. It hovered in that range over the following weeks as dance and pop radio gave it spins. It reached its peak of number 51 around January 29, 2011, and spent 9 weeks on the Hot 100, a relatively brief run on the American chart that belied its much larger success in clubs and on charts across Europe and beyond.

A Snapshot of an Era

The song stands as a perfect time capsule of the early-2010s dance-pop explosion, a moment when Guetta's productions defined the sound of radio and Rihanna seemed incapable of releasing anything that was not a hit. Its accompanying videos, including a memorable Halloween-themed clip, leaned into the era's appetite for spectacle. It captured two megastars at their commercial peak doing exactly what they did best, even if it never reached the dizzying heights of their biggest individual smashes. For listeners who lived through that period, the song instantly conjures the neon-lit, bass-heavy atmosphere of the early-2010s club scene, a time when Guetta's name on a track was practically a promise of a hit. It belongs to that specific, glittering chapter of pop history as completely as any record of its kind.

Press Play and Move

Cue it up and let those synths sweep you straight onto a crowded dance floor. The song is built for movement and nothing else, a glittering jolt of pure energy from a moment when dance music ruled the world. It still does exactly what it was designed to do the instant the beat kicks in.

"Who's That Chick?" — David Guetta's singular moment on the 2010s charts.