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Grateful album cover by DJ Khaled

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2017 · From the album Grateful

Wild Thoughts (feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller)

by DJ Khaled

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03:24 Runtime

The reading

A sun-drenched flirtation built on Latin guitar and liquor, where mutual attraction slides past thinking and into pure impulse

02 · Interpretation

Wild Thoughts: Desire on Autopilot

E Editorial Desk

The song is a duet of intent. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller take turns saying, in escalating terms, that being around each other short-circuits their better judgment, and neither of them minds. Released on June 16, 2017 as a single from DJ Khaled's album Grateful, it arrived pre-loaded with familiarity: the production interpolates the Santana and Rob Thomas hit "Maria Maria," and that recognizable Latin guitar figure is doing enormous work, giving a very direct lyric a nostalgic, almost romantic frame.

Rihanna's opening verse establishes the register immediately. She's assessing whether the other person can handle her, admitting they want her undressed, and pairing that with a domestic image ("Spinning and it's wet just like it came from Maytag") that yokes sex to something mundane and funny. The line "White girl wasted on that brown liquor" is the song's operating condition: she is drunk enough that she can't be trusted to behave, and warns him as much. "I'm too lit to dim down a notch" is not an apology. It's a forecast.

The hook itself is almost minimalist. The word "wild" repeated until it stops sounding like a word, then the payoff: when I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts. The construction is important. She isn't saying she's doing wild things, she's saying he generates them in her, involuntarily. Attraction as a kind of weather.

Her second verse leans further into the joke. "This cookie's for the baking" and the football gag about the '68 Jets (a Super Bowl-winning team, so, thoroughly beaten) treat sex as sport and play. "Diamonds ain't nothing when I'm rockin' with ya" is the closest the song comes to sentiment: the standard rap-luxury signifier gets waved away in favor of the person in front of her.

Bryson Tiller's verse answers in the register the song has established, which is to say bluntly. He rattles off punning references (Wu-Tang's "C.R.E.A.M.," Usain Bolt, Adam Sandler's The Waterboy, Friday the 13th) at a rate of roughly one per bar. The technique is old-school mixtape rap: string enough clever comparisons together and the swagger becomes the content. He also mirrors Rihanna's warnings back at her ("Careful mama watch what you say"), which turns the song from monologue to genuine exchange. Two people, equally into it, equally aware they are about to make choices they would not make sober.

The outro loops back to Rihanna's opening line about brown liquor and being unsafe company, but now it's framed as observation rather than warning: he's telling her she's the wild one. The song refuses to resolve whose fault the wildness is, which is part of its point. It's mutual.

Why it landed

"Wild Thoughts" was one of the biggest singles of summer 2017, reaching the top of charts internationally and going multi-platinum. Part of that is the sample. The "Maria Maria" guitar is a shortcut to a specific late-90s mood, and pairing it with Rihanna's post-Anti voice, which had grown lower and more conversational, produced something that felt both new and familiar. Part of it is Rihanna herself, who by 2017 had refined a particular mode of vocal delivery: unhurried, half-amused, more interested than impressed. The song lets her operate entirely in that mode.

What keeps it in rotation isn't lyrical depth. It's the sound, and the fact that the two performers seem to be enjoying themselves in the same room, on the same joke. DJ Khaled's contribution is largely curatorial (his ad-libs and tags bookend the track), but curation is the job on a Khaled record, and the pairing works.

As a song about desire, it doesn't pretend to be about anything else. That honesty, plus a great guitar loop, is enough.

Themes catalogued

desire intoxication flirtation summer

03 · Lyrics

"Wild Thoughts (feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller)"

Another one (another one)

We The Best music

DJ Khaled

I don't know if you could take it

Know you wanna see me nakey, nakey, naked

I wanna be your baby, baby, baby

Spinning and it's wet just like it came from Maytag

White girl wasted on that brown liquor

When I get like this, I can't be around you

I'm too lit to dim down a notch

'Cause I could name some thangs that I'm gon' do

Wild, wild, wild

Wild, wild, wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Let's go!

I hope you know I'm for the takin'

You know this cookie's for the baking

Kitty, kitty, baby give that thing some rest

'Cause you done beat it like the '68 Jets

Diamonds ain't nothing when I'm rockin' with ya

Diamonds ain't nothing when I'm shinin' with ya

Just keep it white and black as if I'm ya sista

I'm too hip to hop around town out here with ya

I know I get

Wild, wild, wild

Wild, wild, wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Ayy, uh-huh, uh-huh

I heard that pussy for the taking

I heard it got these other niggas goin' crazy

Yeah, I treat you like a lady, lady

Fuck you 'til you're burned out, cremation (burned out)

Make it cream, yeah, Wu-Tang (Wu-Tang)

Throw that ass back, bouquet (bouquet)

Call me and I can get it juicy

I can tell you're gone off the D'Ussé

Careful mama watch what you say (you say)

You talking to me like ya new bae (new bae)

Girl, you talking like you tryna do things

Now that pipe got her running like she Usain, baby

You made me drown in it, ooh touché, baby

I'm carrying that water, Bobby Boucher, baby

And you know I'ma slaughter like I'm Jason

Bust it, why you got it on safety?

White girl wasted on brown liquor (brown liquor)

I probably shouldn't be around you (can't be around you)

'Cause you get wild, wild, wild (wild)

You looking like there's nothing that you won't do (whatchu wanna do?)

Ayy, girl that's when I told you (that's when I told you)

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

Wild, wild, wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

DJ Khaled (DJ Khaled, DJ Khaled, DJ Khaled, DJ Khaled, DJ Khaled)

Wild, wild, wild

Wild, wild, wild

When I'm with you, all I get is wild thoughts

Lyrics via Google. Copyright belongs to rights holders.

04 · FAQ

Frequently asked

What sample is used in Wild Thoughts?
The track interpolates the guitar figure from Santana's 1999 hit "Maria Maria," featuring Rob Thomas and The Product G&B. That instantly recognizable Latin guitar loop is the melodic backbone of the whole record and a large part of why the song felt familiar on first listen in summer 2017.
What does "White girl wasted on that brown liquor" mean in Wild Thoughts?
It's Rihanna describing her level of intoxication. "White girl wasted" is slang for extremely drunk, and "brown liquor" typically means whiskey, bourbon, or dark rum. She's signaling that she's past the point of caution, which is why she warns her partner that she "can't be around you" without acting on impulse.
Who is Bobby Boucher and why does Bryson Tiller mention him?
Bobby Boucher is Adam Sandler's character in the 1998 film *The Waterboy*. Tiller uses it as a pun on "I'm carrying that water," a sexual boast dressed up as a movie reference. The verse is stacked with similar pop-culture puns, including Wu-Tang, Usain Bolt, and Jason from *Friday the 13th*.
What does the line about the '68 Jets refer to?
The 1968 New York Jets, led by Joe Namath, famously won Super Bowl III. Rihanna's line "you done beat it like the '68 Jets" is a football-victory pun repurposed as a sexual joke. It's typical of the song's tone: bold claims delivered with a wink.
Is Wild Thoughts really a DJ Khaled song if he barely appears?
Khaled's role on his own records is producer, curator, and hype presence rather than lead vocalist. He assembles the collaborators, ad-libs his tags, and puts his name on the marquee. "Wild Thoughts" fits that model exactly, with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller carrying the actual performance.
How does Wild Thoughts compare to Rihanna's other 2016 to 2017 work?
Coming after *Anti* (2016), which featured a lower, more conversational Rihanna on tracks like "Needed Me," "Wild Thoughts" extends that vocal mode into a brighter, more summer-friendly setting. It's less moody than her *Anti* singles but keeps the same unhurried, half-amused delivery that defined that era of her voice.
Why was Wild Thoughts such a big hit in 2017?
It combined a nostalgic late-90s guitar sample with two performers at commercial peaks, released at the start of summer. The sample gave listeners an instant hook, Rihanna gave it star power, and Tiller's verse anchored it in contemporary R&B. It topped charts in the UK and reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100.
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