„SOS“
Single by Rihanna from the album A Girl like Me
Released	March 7, 2006 (U.S.) April 3, 2006(F.R) Mid April (Rest Of The World)
Format	12" maxi single, digital download, CD single
Recorded	2006
Genre	Dance pop
Length	4:00
Label	Def Jam/SRP
Writer(s)	J. R. Rotem, Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Ed Cobb
Producer	J. R. Rotem
Rihanna singles chronology
"Let Me" (2006) "SOS" (2006) "Unfaithful" (2006)
Alternate cover
European cover
Audio sample
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"SOS", also known as "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)", is a dance pop song written by Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Ed Cobb, and J. R. Rotem for Barbadian pop singer Rihanna's second studio album, A Girl like Me (2006). It samples the key section, bass line, and drum beat from Soft Cell's 1981 single "Tainted Love".

"SOS" was released as the album's lead single in 2006 (see 2006 in music). The song reached number one in Australia and the United States and the top five in other music markets such as Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Writing and recording

The song was primarily written by producer J. R. Rotem and Evan "Kidd" Bogart, son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. Label mate Christina Milian was originally asked to record the song for her third album, So Amazin', but the singer turned it down and Island Def Jam CEO L.A. Reid instead offered "SOS" to Rihanna.^[1][2] Christina commented that the song was too "pop" for an R&B artist and that she wasn't asked to record it, which she confirmed in her official forum.^{[citation needed]}

The line "You got me tossin' and turnin' and I can't sleep at night" in the refrain is a quote from the 1964 Ed Cobb song "Tainted Love", where the line goes "And I've lost my light for I toss and turn - I can't sleep at night." The bell-like synth sounds in "SOS" are sampled from Soft Cell's 1981 version of "Tainted Love."

The song's theme is based around the song's protagonist crying out for help as she becomes besotted with a lover mentioned in the song. Because she is unaccustomed to feeling this way, she believes that she is out of character, and states "'cause you on my mind, it's got me losing it." Remixes were provided by Jason Nevins, who has produced remixes for artists such as Madonna, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson, LL Cool J and Pink.

This song was used in a 2008 movie "True Confessions Of A Hollywood Starlet."

Chart performance

In the United States, "SOS" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot Dance Music/Club Play, Hot Dance Airplay, Hot Digital Songs and Hot Digital Tracks; the track also hit number two on the Pop 100 Airplay, but could not get past the massive airplay of Sean Paul's single "Temperature". The track was made available as a digital download upon the release of the album and its first week of digital sales prompted a dramatic jump from #34 to #1, one of the biggest jumps to the number one position in Billboard history. The reason for the large jump was that "SOS" was kept off of most digital download services until her album was released to stimulate more album sales.

Outside the U.S., "SOS" became Rihanna's first number-one hit in Australia, New Zealand, and on a composite United World Chart. It stayed at the top for eight consecutive weeks, making it the singer's biggest hit in Australia. The song also reached number two on the UK and German singles charts, number four on the Dutch chart, and number seven in Italy. In Romania the song competed with both "If It's Lovin' That You Want" and "Unfaithful" since the "S.O.S." single was pushed back due to the good performance of "If It's Lovin' That You Want", and when finally released, "Unfaithful" had already start gaining heavy radio airplay. "S.O.S." reached #28 in the Romanian Singles Chart.

"SOS" was removed from the UK charts after thirteen weeks because there was a remix of "SOS" contained on the "Unfaithful" single. Due to UK chart rules, a new single can not have a remix of a previous single if the original song is still charting. This is why the song left the charts at the #27 position. However, the song was still a smash hit, being the UK's ninth best-selling single of the year.^[3] It also hit no.1 for 2 weeks on ECD:UK.

Music video

Rihanna in the "SOS" music video, singing in an hotel garden

The song spawned three music videos; one of them being a Agent Provocateur promotional video which features Rihanna walking into a hotel which turns into a nightclub. Another promotional video was done for Nike, featuring a dance contest in a gym. The official version was shot for music and music-related television stations and premiered on MTV's Total Request Live and MuchMusic's MuchOnDemand on March 23, 2006. The video reached number one on Total Request Live for the first time on April 14, 2006 and stayed on the countdown for twenty days.

In this clip, directed by Chris Applebaum, Rihanna wears a bikini and the video has her telling a guy she's going to call for help due to the desperate feelings caused by their relationship. She also uses a Nokia 3250 cellular phone, and she apparently seems to be listening to "Pon De Replay," and "Tainted Love," the song sampled in "SOS", as Soft Cell's album cover can be seen on the display.

Track listing and formats

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "SOS". Ironically, in some formats, "Break It Off" was released as the B-side to "SOS," even though it ended up being released as a single on its own later on.

Canadian/U.S. CD Maxi-single

1. "SOS" [Radio Edit]
2. "SOS" [Nevin's Electrotek Club Mix]
3. "Break It Off" (with Sean Paul)
4. "SOS" (CD-ROM Video)

UK CD single

1. "SOS" [Radio Edit]
2. "SOS" [Nevin's Glam Club Mix]

European/Australian Version

1. "SOS"
2. "Let Me"

UK 12" vinyl single

Side A

1. Radio Edit
2. Instrumental

Side B

1. Remix

Charts

References