Rihanna's vocals became so distinct, Tyra Banks was able to parody them in an interview. When you stop listening, "ella" is what echoes in your head. Her voice creates the song's sounds more than the beats. Frere notes in the New Yorker that she "flattens" the lyrics. "Umbrella" succeeded in 2007, because Rihanna was singing like Rihanna. Britney would have breath-sang "ella, ella, ella," and Mary J. sang the song, it likely would have succeeded, but it would have sounded different. Rihanna sings, "When the sun shines, we shine together / Told you I'll be here forever." The mood stems from Rihanna's attitude as she hurls, "ella, ella, ella," and "eh, eh, eh." Unlike in her earlier songs, Rihanna flexed her personality, making the song's hook more memorable. (Since it was 2007, she also would sometimes wear a fedora.) On The Today Show, Matt Lauer called it a "bad girl image." Rihanna shot back: " Good Girl Gone Bad is an expression of how I'm feeling right now."įor all the dark about being a "bad girl" and "edgy" sounds, the lyrics are safe. In performances, Rihanna wore tight black dresses that looked like they were made out of latex or leather instead of the generic skirts and pants that had populated her earlier performances. Where "Pon de Replay" sounds like a standard pop dance song, "Umbrella" brings a hint of darkness. Nash and Stewart are partially to credit. "Umbrella" sounded different from her previous songs. "I had a say in who I wanted to collaborate with and which songs I wanted to record, so there's more pressure there."įor More Stories Like This, Sign Up for Our Newsletter "It was very challenging, because I had more control over this one," she told the magazine. "It wasn't meant to be." (Ironically, Max Martin wrote Britney's first hit, "… Baby One More Time," for the girl group TLC.) "Her current state was a little bizarre, you know?" Stewart told MTV News. I'll protect you.'" According to the New Yorker profile, Stewart produced a rough beat and keyboard line, and then Nash penned a chorus.Ĭonsidering the success of "Me Against the Music," they approached Britney Spears to record the song for her comeback album, Blackout. "Like, God would say, 'I've got you under my umbrella.
"At first I was thinking about God," Nash told Blender. In January 2007, they met at their Triangle Studios to write a song.
In 2004, they teamed up for the hit Britney Spears/Madonna duet "Me Against the Music." Nash developed the hook, while Stewart worked on the beats-a process they have continued to use. Blender, one of the most influential music magazines of the aughts, reports that Stewart had previously written Mya's "Case of the Ex," while Nash had quit singing to write lyrics. "Umbrella," was written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. Read more: The Bizarre Life Paths of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's Daughters "I'm showing people a different, darker side of me." "This time around, I'm being a bit more rebellious, as many teens are at around my age!" Rihanna told Teen Vogue. At age 19, Rihanna blossomed from safe, generic teeny-bopper to confident, leather-clad hitmaker. Born to Run saved Bruce Springsteen from cultural obscurity after two flops, and True Blue proved Madonna could match dance beats with political messages through the teenage pregnancy-themed second single "Papa Don't Preach." (Refrain: "I'm keeping my baby.") Similarly, "Umbrella" "doubled the magnitude of her career," according to a New Yorker profile by music critic Sasha Frere-Jones. Third albums tend to define the rest of artists' careers. Rihanna's peers were Mya and Christina Milian. Only one of her songs, the generic ballad "Unfaithful," had topped the Billboard Hot 100, and her first two albums, Music of the Sun and A Girl Like Me, failed to sell as many copies as the debut albums of Beyonce and Britney Spears. She sang island-infused dance pop like "Pon de Replay," which hit radio when Rihanna was only 17. She's the biggest superstar in her generation, but Rihanna was a middle-tier pop star in 2007. Rihanna is tied with the Beatles for second most weeks at number one. Looking back, the song's success seems inevitable.
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