Rihanna’s ‘American Oxygen’ Wasn’t About Eric Garner — But It Could Be

I don’t know about you all, but the first time I heard and saw the video for Rihanna’s powerful R8 track, “American Oxygen,” the first thing that popped into my head was, “I can’t breathe.” You know, since the whole idea of “the land of the free and the home of the brave” has been a little dented of late.

It turns out, however, that the song wasn’t originally written about Eric Garner or any of the recent police-connected deaths that have spurred protests and riots. But that doesn’t make it any less relevant in those situations.

“[The song] was written before everything happened with Eric Garner,” X Ambassadors frontman Sam Harris told MTV News. Harris co-wrote the track, which premiered on Tidal. “[But] the fact that it was written before all this stuff happened doesn’t really make a difference to me. I think it’s just as important.”

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