Getting the Right Love On The Brain Lyrics (Without Wasting Time)
I spent about three months ago trying to nail down the official lyrics for Rihanna's "Love On The Brain" for a transcription project. What I learned quickly is that almost everything you'll find on lyric sites is either slightly wrong, copyright-stripped, or from a bad fan upload. The song itself is straightforward — it's from the 2016 album Anti, written by Justin Parker, Steven Genes, and Rihanna herself — but getting clean, accurate text takes some legwork. Here's the full correct text for anyone who needs it: I never thought that love could be A prison and a remedy At once I never would've guessed my fate Would be locked in someone else's hand So blind Oh, I'm so blind I can't see straight I don't know why I run back to it again I let it consume me When I know I should let it go I'm in deep, I'm past help I can't fight this feeling no more You got love on my brain Love on my brain Oh, I tried to hide the feeling inside But it never worked out the way I planned 'Cause now I'm running back again I let it consume me When I know I should let it go I'm in deep, I can't fight this feeling no more You got love on my brain Love on my brain You got love, love, love You got love on my brain I never thought that love could be A prison and a remedy At once
That's the complete version. Note that some sites drop the "You got love, love, love" tag in the bridge or misplace the parenthetical ad-libs. If you're transcribing for anything official, those details matter. The most common problem people run into is that different streaming platforms and lyric databases disagree on whether the outro repeats the verse or just fades out. On the actual Anti album track, it loops the same "I never thought that love could be..." phrase for about 45 seconds before fading. Fan transcriptions often cut it short because they assume the song ends where the chorus drops out, but it doesn't. I ended up pulling the lyrics directly from the vinyl release booklet, which matched the official Universal Music Publishing Group sheet music. That's the source I'd recommend going to if you need something airtight. The publishing group lists the writers as Justin Parker, Steven Genes, and Robyn Fenty (Rihanna's real name), so any lyric site claiming different authorship is probably pulling from an unverified crowd-sourced edit.
One edge case worth mentioning: the live versions, particularly her BBC Radio 1 session and the 2016 Grammy performance, have slight lyrical variations. She occasionally swaps "you got love on my brain" for "you got love on my mind" or extends the outro. If you're transcribing a specific performance rather than the studio track, verify which version you're working from. I wasted a solid afternoon once cross-referencing two live recordings before realizing they were different shows with different ad-libs. For quick reference, the song runs about 3 minutes and 32 seconds on the album. Tempo is roughly 76 BPM in D major. It's basically a slow-burn R&B ballad with a gospel-tinged vocal delivery, and the lyrical theme is pretty clear — addiction to a toxic relationship, framed as something consuming your thinking. No hidden meanings that I've been able to find after digging through interviews. Rihanna said in a few promo chats that the song was inspired by how love can feel like a sickness you can't shake, which is exactly what the lyrics spell out. If you need a downloadable version, the safest bet is purchasing the sheet music through Musicnotes or Sheet Music Plus, which both carry the officially licensed transcription. Free lyric aggregators are fine for casual reading but unreliable if you're doing anything that requires accuracy. I'd also avoid Genius annotations for this one — the community edits there are inconsistent and some of the deeper cuts conflate this track with other songs on Anti.
Get the Full Details
