In this power-pop ballad, Rihanna sings about a couple who sleep beside each other but feel "10,000 miles apart." A California King Bed is four inches longer than a standard king bed, but this couple's emotional distance is far greater.
The song is part of Rihanna's fifth album, Loud. After the darker sounds of Rihanna's previous album Rated R, which she recorded in the wake of her former boyfriend Chris Brown's violent assault on her, Loud generally has more upbeat sounds. However, this is one of the slower tracks the Bajan singer recorded for the album. Rihanna explained to UK radio station 95.8 Capital FM: "The ballads on this album are really special. I didn't want to just put a bunch of ballads on the album, I actually wanted to keep it minimal with slow records. But there are really two powerful ballads. One is called 'Straight Up Beautiful' and the other one is called 'California King Bed,' which is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's probably going to be the biggest song on the album."
Rihanna explained the meaning of the song to Capital FM: "It's talking about being this close to someone yet feeling so far away, like falling out of love."
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