Swedish director Tim Erem, whose past work includes videos for Major Lazer and Tove Lo, handled part two, which was actually intended to be a small portion of the original video. They shot the clip inside a Los Angeles mall, which fans witnessed back in January. “It was like a big Foot Locker store,” he tells EW of the space that became the pink room.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was it always the plan to have two videos in one?
TIM EREM: No. [Laughs] The original “Work” video was something completely different. This pink room was basically just a small setup of that whole original idea we had for it. We just decided not to [use that footage] for “Work” anymore even though we shot it. We decided to change the track, and they obviously still needed something for “Work.” We don’t know what’s going on with it. It’s for sure one of my best pieces I’ve ever made. Hopefully it’s something that people will see soon. They liked the pink room, but wanted something more to it. We were actually surprised how much it can carry almost the whole track. So we decided to actually go for it, and then they decided to do one more video for it and make it into two videos.

Why did you guys decide to replay the song twice instead of making the first half of the song Director X’s video and the second half of the song your video?
I don’t know, actually. I haven’t thought about it that way. The reason for that is probably because I don’t think either me or the other director would actually be up for doing something together. I think that’s the story behind that. I haven’t seen the other video. I don’t know if it’s good or really bad. I don’t know if it’s really bad for me to be mixed with that video. I’ll take a look at it later.

Did you and Director X have any communication at all?
No, he came on the project way later. We never talked. As long as I have my own video, I’m fine. They can do whatever they want. Rihanna can do whatever she wants. I support her. I love that girl. As long as my part of it looks good.

How was working with Rihanna?
She’s the best. She’s the coolest girl I’ve ever met, honestly. You can’t expect that A-list celebrities will be the nicest people. But this was something different. I don’t think she’s aware of her size. She’s just an amazing person. The first two seconds I met her, she was the happiest and most open person I’ve ever met. She’s really smart and down-to-earth as well. I did not expect all of that. She’s, like everyone knows, the coolest person alive. It’s impossible to talk s— about her.

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