Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna, released worldwide on March 29, 2007, through Def Jam Recordings as the lead single and opening track from her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Its featured artist, American rapper Jay-Z, co-wrote the song with its producers Tricky Stewart and Kuk Harrell, with additional writing contributions coming from The-Dream.
For other songs called "Umbrella", see Umbrella (disambiguation) § Songs."Umbrella"
"Umbrella" was a global success, topping the charts in 17 countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the UK, where the song's chart performance coincided with the prolonged rain and flooding, it was one of the most played songs on radio in the 2000s decade. It managed to stay atop the UK Singles Chart for 10 consecutive weeks, the longest run at number one for any single of that decade, and is also one of the few songs to top the chart for at least 10 weeks. As one of the highest digital debuts in the United States at the time, it remained atop of the US Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks.
The single's accompanying music video, directed by Chris Applebaum and featuring Rihanna's nude body covered in silver paint, earned her a Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and Most Watched Video on MuchMusic.com at MuchMusic Video Awards. "Umbrella" has been covered by several notable performers across various musical genres, including All Time Low, the Baseballs, Train, Manic Street Preachers, McFly, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, OneRepublic, Taylor Swift, and Vanilla Sky. Rihanna performed the song at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards and at the 2008 BRIT Awards, and also included it as the closing number of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2008), the Last Girl on Earth (2010), and the Loud Tour (2011) as well as in the Diamonds World Tour (2013), and the Anti World Tour (2016). "Umbrella" is also a playable song in the 2012 video game Just Dance 4.
Background and development[edit]
American songwriter and producer Christopher "Tricky" Stewart convened with Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Kuk Harrell in January 2007 at the Atlanta-based Triangle Studios to create new material. In the studio, Stewart was "messing around with a walloping hi-hat sound", which he found in the free music software GarageBand, which is included in all Mac computers. With his attention caught by the sound, Nash asked Stewart what he was doing: "Oh, my Gosh, what is that beat?". When Stewart incorporated chords onto the hi-hat, "immediately the word popped into [Nash's] head"; he went to the vocal booth and started singing.[1] Nash wrote the first two verses and the chorus over Stewart's skeleton track.[2] They quickly wrote the lyrics, completing the first verse in 60 seconds. They continued into writing, adding the hook while "[Stewart] would put the next chord". In a matter of hours, they had recorded a demo of the track.[1] The song was written with American pop singer Britney Spears in mind, whom Stewart had previously worked with on her 2003 single "Me Against the Music". Stewart and Nash thought that Spears, who had "her personal life ... a little out of control" at the time, needed a hit as a musical comeback.[1] Spears was working on her fifth album, Blackout, so they sent a copy of the demo to Spears' management. However, Spears did not hear of the song because her label rejected it, claiming they had enough songs for her to record.[3]
Following the management's rejection of the track, Stewart and Nash dealt it out to other record labels. It was also given to British singer-songwriter Taio Cruz, who failed to convince his record company to release it.[4] It was then opted by Island Def Jam chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid, a friend of Stewart who established his first studio. By early February 2007, the demo was sent to Reid's right-hand woman, A&R executive Karen Kwak, who passed it along to Reid with a message confirming that they had found a song suited for Rihanna, who was working on her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad, at the time. Reid immediately sent the demo to Rihanna, who was also positive of it: "When the demo first started playing, I was like, This is interesting, this is weird. ... But the song kept getting better. I listened to it over and over. I said, 'I need this record. I want to record it tomorrow."[1]
However, since it was the Grammy season of 2007, Stewart and Nash eyed American R&B singer Mary J. Blige for the demo.[3] Upon calling them to set the record aside for Rihanna, Stewart had played it to an associate of Blige, subsequently promising the song to her. Having heard the move of the writers, Kwak and A&R Angel Maldonado began calling Stewart and his manager, Mark Stewart, incessantly. Meanwhile, considering Blige's nominations at the Grammys, Stewart and Nash agreed to wait for her response. However, Blige failed to hear the song in full due to her obligations to the Grammys at the time and "had to sign off on the record before her reps could accept it".[3][5] Finally, Reid "stepped in, trading on his power-broker status and longstanding relationship with Stewart", and admits, "I made the producers an offer they couldn't refuse."[1] By the time Reid had successfully persuaded Stewart's camp, they "just couldn't say no".[3] On giving up the record to Reid's camp, Mark Stewart comments, "We knew Rihanna's album would be out in a few months. Mary wasn't even in an album cycle yet. We made the sensible business decision."[1]
Release and reception[edit]
"Umbrella" was released worldwide on March 29, 2007, debuting on Rihanna's Def Jam website.[13][14] It received airplay across mainstream, rhythmic and urban radios in the US the same day.[15][16] The song was released digitally in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2007, along with its physical release following two weeks later.[17]
"Umbrella" received universal critical acclaim. Andy Kellman of AllMusic commented: "'Umbrella' is [Rihanna's best song] to date, delivering mammoth if spacious drums, a towering backdrop during the chorus, and vocals that are somehow totally convincing without sounding all that impassioned – an ideal spot between trying too hard and boredom, like she might've been on her 20th take."[18] Alex Macpherson of British newspaper The Guardian, "Umbrella" is "evidence" that Rihanna's "strict work ethic is paying off", adding that she "delivers [in the song] an impassioned declaration of us-against-the-world devotion".[19] Tom Breihan of Pitchfork, though he complimented the production, dismissed Rihanna's voice which "takes on an unpleasant icepick edge when she tries to fill the space between the slow-tempo beats", adding that the song is "uncompelling as event-pop, particularly because of the disconnect between Rihanna's cold, clinical delivery and the comforting warmth of the lyrics".[20] In comparison, Breihan's retrospective review on Stereogum acclaimed "Umbrella". Especially reflecting on his contemporary, more critical Pitchfork review, he admitted that her vocal performance was moreso that of "self-assured power" than "[disconnection] from a song that’s all about visceral connection"; however, he expressed criticism towards Jay-Z's guest verse for sounding uncommitted and adding "nothing" to the song besides "branding".[21]
Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote "That the song is just plain good, regardless of genre, proves that Jay and Rihanna, who's already scored hits across several formats with a string of singles that couldn't be more different from each other, are dedicated to producing quality hits—however frivolous they may be."[22] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters.com said that ""Umbrella" is a monster, so much so that I'll even confess to spending a portion of a rainy afternoon practicing the hook."[23] Jonah Weiner of Blender magazine called the song the album's highlight and stated that it "would be far less engrossing if it wasn't for the way Rihanna disassembles its ungainly title into 11 hypnotic, tongue-flicking syllables".[24] The New York Times' Kelefa Sanneh described the song as "a space-age hip-pop song".[25] Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship noted in an interview on MTV's Total Request Live that the song's hook can be misheard as a reference to girl power: "I love that song but when I first heard it I thought she was saying 'My Beretta,' you know, like a gun? And I'm like whoa, that's a little edgy."[26]
Entertainment Weekly ranked the song number one on the 10 Best Singles of 2007, while Rolling Stone and Time listed the song at number three on the 100 Best Songs of 2007.
Chart performance[edit]
Oceania[edit]
"Umbrella" entered the Australian Singles Chart at number one on June 10, 2007, becoming Rihanna's second number one in the country following "SOS" (2006). It spent six consecutive weeks at the top,[27] and has since earned a 5× Platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association, denoting sales of 350,000 copies.[28] It spent a total of 32 weeks on the chart,[27] ending the year as the country's third best-selling single of 2007.[29] "Umbrella" debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 34 on May 14, 2007. Over the following two weeks, it dropped one place, then climbed to a new peak of number 33. In its fourth week on the chart, it leaped to the top of the chart, becoming Rihanna's second number one single following "Pon de Replay" (2005).[30] It remained atop the chart for six consecutive weeks and on the chart for a total of 24 weeks.[30] The song received a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, denoting sales of 15,000 copies,[31] subsequently becoming the country's best-selling single of 2007.[32]
Music video[edit]
Background and concept[edit]
While working on the album, ideas began to circulate concerning Rihanna's image, extending into her music videos. She asked American music video director Chris Applebaum to send her "something" to work on. Def Jam representatives were expecting Applebaum of the treatment.[81] In response, Applebaum hurriedly made a treatment for the video, one of his first ideas being the silver body paint that Rihanna is seen in. Applebaum was doubtful whether Rihanna would embrace the idea, but her "positive response" following a letter the director sent to the artist ensured its approval. Makeup artist Pamela Neal mixed a silver paint that would give Rihanna such a look. During the session, the paint was re-applied between takes to ensure she was completely covered. The set was closed to Rihanna, Applebaum and a camera assistant.[81] Rihanna also contributed her own ideas towards the video shoot, suggesting to Applebaum that she dance en pointe, an idea which he accepted.[81]
Visual effects at Kroma were supervised by Bert Yukich and produced by Amy Yukich.[82] A key part of the video is a 24-second visual effects sequence in which Rihanna is surrounded by silvery strands of liquid that crisscross the frame in graceful arcs in response to her movements. Water elements were recorded on a special effects stage using a high-speed 35mm camera. Bert Yukich then composited them into the scene with the singer. He then added lighting effects to the practical water elements to give them the mirror-like texture of mercury.
Release[edit]
The music video premiered on April 26, 2007, on her website. Downloads were made available for those in the U.S. only from the website for a limited time. The video was officially released on the iTunes Store on May 11, 2007, peaking at number one for a period of eight weeks. On May 1, 2007, "Umbrella" debuted on MTV's TRL at number ten, before reaching number one on May 9 where it remained for fifteen days, making it the longest running number one of 2007. The video was well-played in MTV during the second half of 2007; it has reached over 8,000 plays, receiving a platinum recognition at the MTV Platinum and Gold Video Awards.[83] Such was the success of the promotional video that it received five nominations at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, including "Female Artist of the Year", "Video of the Year" and "Monster Single of the Year", going on to win the latter two.[84]
Live performances[edit]
"Umbrella" was performed by Rihanna during the 2007 MTV Movie Awards on June 3, 2007.[105] In the United Kingdom, she performed the song on the ITV morning show GMTV and at the Brit Awards in 2008. She also performed "Umbrella" during her AOL sessions.[106] In France, she performed it on Star Academy.[107] "Umbrella" was added to the setlist of her first headlining Good Girl Gone Bad Tour where it was performed as the final song for the encore. It was also included as the closing act of the Last Girl on Earth tour and the Loud Tour. Rihanna performed "Umbrella" at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend on May 24, 2012, as the sixteenth song on the set list.[108] The performance featured a giant sphinx on the stage.[109] The song was also performed during the Diamonds World Tour and the Anti World Tour. On February 12, 2023, she performed the song as part of her set during the halftime show of Super Bowl LVII.[110]