--- title: Rihanna Wrote Drake a Sweet Note After the MTV VMAs description: Rihanna wrote Drake a sweet thank you note following their chemistry-filled MTV VMA appearance together. canonical: https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T15:23:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:10.243Z og:title: Read the Sweet Note Rihanna Wrote Drake After the MTV VMAs og:description: This says it all og:url: https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24c618b5ebb25f28/6988a489f887dc06e9e9745e/drake-rihanna-kiss-miami.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show & Audience og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Sweet Note Rihanna Wrote Drake After the MTV VMAs twitter:description: This says it all twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24c618b5ebb25f28/6988a489f887dc06e9e9745e/drake-rihanna-kiss-miami.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Rihanna's Loving Note to Drake About His MTV Video Music Love Confession > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 2, 2016 3:23 PM UTC  Drake escorts Rihanna after presenting her with The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at the Madison Square Garden in New York on August 28, 2016\. / AFP / Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) Drake escorts Rihanna after presenting her with The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at the Madison Square Garden in New York on August 28, 2016\. / AFP / Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) JEWEL SAMAD—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 2, 2016 3:23 PM UTC Before you think that [Rihanna’s kiss with Drake at his Miami concert](http://time.com/4475885/drake-rihanna-kiss-video/) and [new shark tattoo that she allegedly got for Drake](http://time.com/4476709/rihanna-drake-shark-tattoo/) means that they’re really a couple now, take a minute to read her carefully-worded Instagram caption where she skillfully continues to keep [Drizzy’s decade-long unrequited love for her, well, unrequited](http://time.com/4465225/drake-rihanna-relationship/). In the caption, Rihanna takes 200 words to sincerely thank everyone from her family, her fans, her friends, and her team for helping to make her Video Vanguard performances and award happen. Even MTV, Mary J. Blige, Naomi Campbell, and Tracee Ellis Ross get a shout out. Finally, at the end of the caption, she devotes 11 words to Drake, writing, “Your speech was so touching and I love you for that!” Which is basically the nice way of saying, “Thank you for pouring your heart out to me and declaring your love for me on the MTV stage.” May we all approach love with the self-awareness of Rihanna. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/"},"headline":"Read Rihanna's Loving Note to Drake About His MTV Video Music Love Confession","datePublished":"2016-09-02T15:23:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:10.243Z","description":"Self-awareness Rihanna-style","url":"https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Drake","Rihanna","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24c618b5ebb25f28/6988a489f887dc06e9e9745e/drake-rihanna-kiss-miami.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24c618b5ebb25f28/6988a489f887dc06e9e9745e/drake-rihanna-kiss-miami.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show & Audience","caption":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show & Audience","creditText":"JEWEL SAMAD—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4477571/rihanna-drake-love-speech/","name":"Read Rihanna's Loving Note to Drake About His MTV Video Music Love Confession"}}]}] ```