 " Cold Case Love " was written and produced by The Y 's ( Justin Timberlake , Robin Tadross and James Fauntleroy II ) . At the " Justin Timberlake & Friends Concert in Las Vegas " , Timberlake told MTV News that Rated R is a whole new sound and that the new songs are not just a rehash of what fans heard on her last album . " She broke onto the scene so hard with the last record — to have that many songs on the charts is impressive . I think that the smartest thing she 's doing is not trying to emulate what she did but move forward " , Timberlake explained . In February 2010 , Rihanna admitted that " Cold Case Love " was inspired by her difficult relationship with ex @-@ boyfriend Chris Brown , " It 's a song that everybody wanted to hear , everything that I didn 't say for the past eight months , exactly how I felt about that relationship and how I feel about it now – that song says it all . " When asked what the most important song from the album to her was , she stated that she doesn 't have one , however , Rihanna cited " Cold Case Love " together with " Fire Bomb " as her favorites . 
