Alejandro Barajas and Jennifer Rosales served as the vocal recording and production assistants to Harrel and Tovar. Vocal recording and production was carried out by Kuk Harrell and Marcos Tovar. Rihanna recorded the song at several recording studios around the world during her Loud Tour (2011), which included Sofital Paris Le Laubourg in Room 538 and at Westlake Recording Studios in Studio B in Los Angeles, California. "You da One" was written by Ester Dean, Henry Walter, John Hill, Lukasz Gottwald and Rihanna. Rihanna performing the song during her 2013 Diamonds World Tour. Hours after the release of the video, Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø accused Rihanna and Matsoukas of plagiarism, suggesting that the scene featuring the singer wearing a white outfit with black dots was deliberately copied from his 2008 montage "Numero 93". At various points, lyrics are stamped across the video as Rihanna sings them. It was mainly shot in black and white, and features Rihanna in a variety of different set ups, such as in a photo shoot and a lyric video game.
It was inspired by the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, and premiered on December 23, 2011. To promote the song, an accompanying music video was shot in east London and directed by Melina Matsoukas. Internationally, it peaked inside the top 10 in New Zealand, South Korea and on the UK R&B Chart, and attained top twenty positions in Canada, Hungary, Norway and Sweden. The song achieved moderate chart success it peaked at number one on the US Dance Club Songs and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It garnered positive reviews from music critics, many of whom complimented the West Indian and Caribbean tone, and compared it to " What's My Name?" and " Man Down", from her previous studio album Loud (2010). It also features a dubstep bridge before the final chorus. Musically, "You Da One" is a mid-tempo pop and reggae song, which incorporates elements of electropop, dancehall and dubstep. Throughout December 2011 and January 2012, a remix extended play (EP) was released worldwide. It was added to US Mainstream, rhythmic and urban radio station playlists on November 29, 2011.
It premiered on US radio on November 11, 2011, and was made available to download digitally throughout Europe and Australasia on November 14, 2011. Kuk Harrell and Marcas Tovar recorded the track at the Sofital Paris Le Laubourg, Room 538, and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. Production of the song was completed by Gottwald, under his production name Dr.
It was co-written by Rihanna with Ester Dean, Henry Walter, John Hill and Lukasz Gottwald. " You da One" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna recorded for her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk (2011).