Umbrella (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Umbrella


Artist = Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
from Album = Good Girl Gone Bad
Released = March 29, 2007 (US)
May 25, 2007 (Europe)
May 28, 2007 (UK)
Format = 12" maxi single, CD single, digital download
Recorded = 2006
Genre = Pop, R&B, hip hop
Length = 4:35 (album version)
4:14 (radio edit)
3:46 (radio edit without rap)
Label = Def Jam
Writer = Jay-Z, Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell
Producer = Tricky Stewart
Certification = 2x Multi-Platinum flagicon|US
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = Rihanna singles
Type = singles
Last single = "Roll It"
(2006)
This single = "Umbrella"
(2007)
Next single = "Shut Up and Drive"
(2007)Extra chronology 2
Artist = Jay-Z singles
Type = singles
Last single = "Hollywood"
(2007)
This single = "Umbrella"
(2007)
Next single = "Kingdom Come"
(2007)Extra track listing
Album = Good Girl Gone Bad
Type = single
prev_track =
prev_no =
this_track = "Umbrella"
track_no = 1
next_track = "Push Up On Me"
next_no = 2

"Umbrella" is a song by singer Rihanna. It was written by Terius "The Dream" Nash, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z for Rihanna's third album, "Good Girl Gone Bad" (2007). Featuring vocals by Jay-Z, it was released as the album's lead single during the second quarter of 2007. It has, in the short time since its original release, been covered by other artists in one form or another.

Following a highly successful chart run around the world and a positive reception from music critics, the song achieved number one on "Entertainment Weekly" magazine's list of the Ten Best Singles of 2007, [The 10 best songs of 2007 (December 23, 2007). [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20162677_20164082_20166984_2,00.html "The 10 best songs of 2007"] "Entertainment Weekly". Retrieved 2007-12-28] as well as number three on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007; [No byline (December 11, 2007). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007 "The 100 Best Songs of 2007"] "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 2007-12-21] it was also named Song of the Year in "Blender" magazine's Readers' Poll 2007. [Jody Rosen (December 25, 2007). [http://www.blender.com/ReadersPoll2007/articles/10452.aspx "Readers' Poll 2007"] "Blender". Retrieved 2007-12-28] In 2008 "Umbrella" won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in addition to receiving nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Background and writing

The music was written by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Thaddis "Kuk" Harrell and the lyrics and melody were written by Terius "The Dream" Nash with the rap intro written and performed by Jay-Z. The song was produced by Stewart with vocal production by Harrell. ["Good Girl Gone Bad" album sleeve notes.]

"Umbrella" was not originally written for Rihanna. Christopher "Tricky" Stewart composed the song in 2007, with American pop singer Britney Spears in mind. Her label rejected the song, claiming to have a suitable amount of songs to work with for her future album "Blackout".Cite news |last=Rodriguez |first=Jayson |title=Rihanna's 'Umbrella' Was 'The Perfect Storm' That Almost Didn't Happen: Behind The Grammys |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1580820/20080201/rihanna.jhtml |work=MTV News |publisher=MTV Networks |date=(February 06, 2007) |accessdate=2008-02-11]

Concurrent to the event was the Grammy season of 2007. Stewart and Nash decided to pass the song onto Mary J. Blige, and also L.A. Reid, the then-CEO of Island Def Jam, Rihanna's label. Blige however, was unable to hear the song in full due to her obligations to the Grammys at the time. [Cite news |last=Rodriguez |first=Jayson |title=Mary J. Blige Says She's 'Just Fine' With Her New Album, Losing 'Umbrella' To Rihanna |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1571625/20071010/blige_mary_j.jhtml |work=MTV News |publisher=MTV Networks |date=(October 23, 2007) |accessdate=2008-02-11] Def Jam representatives remained eager to secure the song for Rihanna, the writers themselves still awaiting a response from Blige. Reid and his team incessantly called them in the entire Grammy weekend to the extent they finally gave them the record.

Stewart confessed he was still reluctant as to whether Rihanna was the right artist to record the song, but following the addition of the "ella, ella" refrain into the track, he felt they were onto "something".

Following Rihanna's recording, Def Jam CEO-rapper Jay-Z added his rap, and then a different verse. Before Stewart and Nash settled on the original rap composed by Jay-Z, he changed it without informing the songwriters. Stewart, however, noted that "from a songwriter's standpoint, he just really made it more about the song, with the metaphors about umbrellas and about the weather versus what he had before."

The song's beat is notable for its source. Contrary to the common expectation that popular music is created from scratch, the beat to "Umbrella" is an Apple loop called "Vintage Funk Kit 03". [cite web | title = The 10 Best Songs of 2007 | publisher = Entertainment Weekly | date = 2007-12-28 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20162677_20164082_20166984_2,00.html | accessdate = 2008-07-30] Anyone with GarageBand or Apple's professional audio product Logic Studio can recreate the beat themselves by slowing the loop to 87 bpm.

ingle release and promotion

In many parts of the United States, the single was released on March 28, 2007, [ [http://artists.letssingit.com/artist-9z9nx/news/209316 "Let'sSingIt.com" - March 21, 2007, "Rihanna’s New Single Hits Radio March 28th"] ] although its official release date was the following day. [ [http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_news.php?artist_id=586&news_id=103239 "Official Website" - March 29, 2007, Rihanna Launches New Single "Umbrella" Worldwide] ] The song premiered on the New York radio station Hot 97 and on Rihanna's [http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=586 official website] on March 29 at 5:00pm EST.

"Umbrella" premiered on UK radio station Invicta FM on Hit40uk and was released digitally in Britain on May 14, 2007, its physical release following two weeks later by which point the song was already #1. It is claimed though that the song was released first on Radio Kado FM on May 11, 2007 although this is still disputed whether it was legal to do so.

Rihanna made formal appearances all over the United Kingdom prior and following the release of the single. She also debuted three new tracks in Preston at the BBC Radio One "One Big Weekend" event. At another promotional concert, she performed "Umbrella", "Shut Up and Drive" and "Breakin' Dishes". Rihanna performed "Umbrella" at the MTV Movie Awards 2007. In Germany, she performed the song exclusively at "Viva Live", and at the 42nd edition of the chart show "The Dome". "Umbrella" was also performed on Live Earth, GMTV, Loose Women, Blue Peter, Kiss Concert 2007, Sprint Concert, Zootopia Show, Stripped Show, "Canadian Idol", "106 & Park" and "The View".

Reception

Andy Kellman of Allmusic commented: "'Umbrella' is her best 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, which only adds to the song's charm." [Cite web |last=Kellman |first=Andy |title=Review: Good Girl Gone Bad |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jcftxz85ld0e |work=Allmusic |publisher=Macrovision Company |date= |accessdate=2008-02-13]

Chart performance

The popularity and positive critical reception to "Umbrella" ensured the song was a commercial success. Coupled with relentlessly strong airplay of both the promotional video and indeed the song itself for the time surrounding its impressive chart run around the world, "Umbrella" was to become Rihanna's biggest hit.

Prior to its physical release, "Umbrella" achieved the biggest debut in the six-year history of the iTunes Music Store, breaking a previous record held by Shakira and Wyclef Jean’s "Hips Don't Lie". As a digital single, "Umbrella" topped the iTunes Store singles chart in more than 16 different countries around the world.

On the issue dated June 9, 2007, "Umbrella" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart after a rising from the #41 position to the top, a jump of forty places, going on to spend a total of seven consecutive weeks at the top of the chart. The track was downloaded a total of 277,000 times in the United States alone, the 4th highest debut-week (3rd Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" 286,000 downloads and 2nd Fergie's song Fergalicious and 1st the Flo Rida song Low) since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking downloads in 2003. On the Billboard year end chart, "Umbrella" was ranked at #2. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/2007/charts/hot100.html Billboard 2007 Year In Music ] ] Furthermore, total digital sales of the song stand at a reputable 2.7 million.cite news
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003592183
title = "Rihanna, Shop Boyz Rocket To The Top Of Hot 100"
author = Jonathan Cohen|publisher="Billboard.com"
accessmonthday = May 31
accessyear = 2007] "Umbrella" was Rihanna’s second number-one single (after "SOS"), and both songs have records for two of the biggest jumps to number one on the Hot 100 chart. In correspondence with this, the song spent a total of four weeks at #1 in Canada, where it became the first song to top the recently debuted Canadian Hot 100 chart.

Perhaps the song's greatest success came in the United Kingdom. The song debuted at number one on 20 May, 2007, becoming Rihanna's first chart-topper in the country and the third song to reach the top on downloads alone, after Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and Mika's Grace Kelly. The song spent another week at number one on just downloads, before the physical release saw the song raise its sales to 60,650, the highest figure for a single in nine weeks, and easily enough for a third week at number one. [ [http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39747 Music Week Sales] ] Ultimately, the song eventually spent ten weeks in total at number one, just the seventh song in history to reach the benchmark and making it the longest-running chart-topper of the 21st century, as well as the longest since "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet in 1994. However, it should be noted that sales near the top of the chart were very poor for a lot of the song's run; "Umbrella" sold less than 30,000 copies in four of its weeks at number one, and in its final week, it defeated Kate Nash's Foundations by just 131 sales. Its reign was finally ended on 29 July, 2007, when it was overtaken by Timbaland's The Way I Are and Nash. Additionally, it should be noted that 2007 was one of the wettest British summers on record, [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_Kingdom_floods] ] which may have contributed to the song's chart-topping run (indeed, many comedians and newspaper columns were actively blaming Rihanna for the weather, albeit lightheartedly, during June and July). By the end of 2007, "Umbrella" had sold 512,730, making it by far her biggest selling single to date and the second biggest selling song of 2007. It was certified Silver by the BPI on July 20, 2007. [ [http://bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=32977 Platinum Awards Content ] ]

As well as topping the charts in the UK, "Umbrella" was a similar success throughout Europe, also reaching #1 in Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Germany and Spain.

In Australia "Umbrella" entered the Australian ARIA singles chart at number-one, and spent six consecutive weeks at the top, and was certified Platinum by ARIA. It re-entered the top 50 in its 26th week at number forty-six, and ended as the year's 3rd biggest seller. It is also one of the few tracks to stay in the top 100 for a year on the charts. [ [http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-2007.htm ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2006 ] ] [ [http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Rihanna+feat%2E+Jay%2DZ&titel=Umbrella&cat=s australian-charts.com - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Umbrella ] ] In New Zealand, "Umbrella" reached number-one on the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart and remained there for six consecutive weeks, and ended as the year's biggest seller.

"Umbrella" is considered Rihanna's breakthrough single in many worldwide markets due to the fact it achieved considerable success in countries where her previous singles had not even charted. It did, for example, become a number-one hit in most of the Hispanic American countries, and in some Eastern European territories.

Due to its success in worldwide markets, "Umbrella" reached number-one on the United World Chart, remaining for 21 consecutive weeks and gaining 8.3 million points thus far. It ended the year as the most successful song of 2007, beating close competition from similar success story "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado.

"Umbrella" re-entered the UK singles chart on December 30 2007 at number thirty-eight and peaked at number eighteen. The song remained in the charts again for 7 weeks. It also entered ECD:UK at no.1 for 6 weeks.

Music video

While working on the album, ideas had already began to circulate concerning Rihanna's image, extending into her music videos. She asked American music video director Chris Applebaum, who had previously worked with artists such as Kid Rock and Madonna, to send her "something" to work with. Def Jam representatives were expecting Applebaum to the treatment.Cite news |last=Rodriguez |first=Jayson |title=Rihanna's 'Painful' 'Umbrella' Shoot Kept Her On Her Toes: VMA Lens Recap |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1568860/20070904/rihanna.jhtml |work=MTV News |publisher=MTV Networks |date=(September 05, 2007) |accessdate=2008-02-11]

In response, Applebaum hurriedly conceptualized 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 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. Rihanna also contributed her own ideas towards the video shoot, suggesting to Applebaum that she dance en pointe, an idea which he accepted.

The final cut of the video premiered at on April 26, 2007 at Thisisrihanna.com. Downloads were made available for those in the U.S. only from the website for a limited time. Rihanna and her dancers were choreographed by Tina Landon and the video was officially released on the iTunes Store on May 11, 2007, peaking at #1 for a period 8 weeks. On May 14, 2007, the "Umbrella" video debuted on BET’s "106 & Park" at #9 before achieving its peak of #4. It was Rihanna’s first video to chart on the countdown since her debut single "Pon de Replay" in 2005. On May 1, 2007, "Umbrella" debuted on MTV’s "Total Request Live" at #10, before reaching #1 on May 9 where it remained for fifteen days, making it the longest running #1 of 2007. "Umbrella" has been announced as being the most played video ever on Polish music channel MTV Poland, beating previous record holder Madonna’s "Hung Up". Such was the success of the promotional video that it was also nominated for five awards 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. [ [http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2007/nominees.jhtml 2007 VMA | Nominees | View Nominees, Music Videos and Photos Including Video Of The Year, Best New Artist and Best Group ] ] As of April 22, 2008, the music video for "Umbrella" has been viewed over 53,700,000 times on popular video-sharing website YouTube, including video duplicates.

Other versions

Mandy Moore did a cover of the song in 2007, releasing it as "Umbrella".

Acoustic version

Rihanna recorded an acoustic version of the song with a new arrangement and later released the song as a bonus track to "Good Girl Gone Bad" on the iTunes Music Store. The song was also used on the sixth season of Canadian Idol in the top 100 round, many of the competitors used the song and put their own acoustic spin on Rihanna's version.

Pop/Punk version

The band Vanilla Sky recorded a version of Umbrella but never released it on a title. Later, the band All Time Low released a version of Umbrella on the Punk Goes Crunk compilation.

Band Biffy Clyro released an acoustic version.

Filipino Version

Filipino pop singer Ms. Ganda recorded a version of the song in Filipino, entitled "Payong", which is Tagalog for umbrella. This song was broadly played on radio stations in the Philippines.

Remixes

*"Umbrella" (Radio Edit No Rap)
*"Umbrella" (Instrumental)
*"Umbrella" (Seamus Haji & Paul Emannuel Radio Edit)
*"Umbrella" (Seamus Haji & Paul Emannuel Club Mix)
*"Umbrella" (Jody Den Broeder Destructive Radio Mix)
*"Umbrella" (Jody Den Broeder Destructive Club Mix)
*"Umbrella" (Jody Den Broeder Lush Radio Mix)
*"Umbrella" (Jody Den Broeder Lush Club Mix)
*"Umbrella" (The Lindbergh Palace Club Mix)
*"Umbrella" (The Lindbergh Palace Dub Mix)
*"Umbrella" (The Lindbergh Palace Radio Mix)
*"Umbrella" (Remix) by Rihanna featuring Lil' Mama
*"Cinderella/Umbrella" (Remix) by Rihanna featuring Chris Brown
*"Umbrella" (Reggaeton Remix) by Rihanna featuring Reggaetonero El Tio
*"Umbrella" (Dancehall Remix) by Rihanna featuring Elephant Man
*"Umbrella" (Rock Remix) by Rihanna. This version was produced by Travis Barker that gives it a "rock" feel, somewhat like his remixes of Soulja Boy's "Crank That" and Flo Rida's "Low"

Cover versions

Marié Digby version

Infobox Single
Name = Umbrella


Artist = Marié Digby
from Album = Start Here EP/Unfold
Released = Flagicon|USA August 3, 2007(Download)
Format = Digital download
Recorded = 2007
Genre = Pop
Length = 3:48
Label = Hollywood
Producer =
Certification =
Last single = —
This single = "Umbrella"
(2007)
Next single = "Bring Me Love"
(2007)

Marié Digby released her cover of "Umbrella" as her debut single, released from the "Start Here EP".

Then-upcoming singer Digby released an acoustic version of "Umbrella" through iTunes under Hollywood Records on August 3, 2007. The single was previously released on the Los Angeles based radio station STAR 98.7 as a "You Oughta Hear" feature. Canadian ska punk band illScarlett and Terra Naomi (a singer who was discovered on YouTube).

Track listing

#"Umbrella" – 3:46
#"Umbrella" (Acoustic) – 3:48

Manic Street Preachers EP

Infobox Album
Name = Umbrella
Type = EP
Artist = Manic Street Preachers


Released = Flagicon|UK February 27, 2008 (CD)
March 5, 2008 (Download)
Recorded = Early 2008
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 12:15
Original (3:38)
Acoustic (3:27)
Grand Slam Mix (5:10)
Label = NME CD 08-01 (for CD release)
Producer = Dave Eringa
Reviews =
Last album = "Ghost of Christmas"
(2007)
This album = "Umbrella"
(2008)
Next album =

The Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released their cover version of "Umbrella" to radio stations on 17th February 2008. A video for the cover is available on the band's official website [http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/07/video/2008/03/27/umbrella_rehearsalo2_footage?headlines-page=1] . The song was included on a CD album titled "NME Awards 2008" given away free with a special souvenir box set of the magazine "NME" on 27th February, produced in celebration of the Shockwaves NME Awards 2008 and Big Gig. The Manics were the recipients of the 2008 "God Like Geniuses Award". The 14-track album also features covers performed by The Kooks, Wombats, Kate Nash, Lightspeed Champion, Kaiser Chiefs, Cribs, Bloc Party, CSS and others. [http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/godlikegenius/fans/]

When made available for purchase on iTunes, the song reached #47 in the UK Singles Chart [http://www.theofficialcharts.com/top40_singles.php] . Despite being chart-eligible, the release was not intended as an official single. As bassist Nicky Wire commented, "The "Umbrella" thing is an odd situation, especially for me with my insane marketing head on. Part of me thinks we should have given it a massive push as it’s selling loads on download, maybe we should have had a physical format and made it an official Manics single. I’m really perturbed that if it’s perceived that way, we’ll have had 33 consecutive Top 40 singles since Stay Beautiful, back when we signed to Sony. I don’t want our record ruined. I can take it as a happy accident as long as the sales don’t push it to Number 42 or something but it is definitely not an official Manics single" [http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com/07/blogs/diary/2008/03/27/nicks_blog_march] .

Nicky Wire said of the song, "This was my favourite track of 2007. It's just so razor-sharp. And who'd have thought a song called 'Umbrella' would be Number One all over the world? It's such an un-pop word. I love it when a record seems to come from another universe. I just wanted us to have a stab at it!" [NME Big Gig Special Issue, 27/02/2007, p.5]

Two further versions were later made available on iTunes and now comprise a three-track "Umbrella EP".

Track listing

#"Umbrella" – 3:38
#"Umbrella" (Acoustic) – 3:27
#"Umbrella" (Grand Slam Mix) – 5:10

Other cover versions

Other remake versions have been performed either on record or in concert by such artists as Linkin Park, [ [http://youtube.com/watch?v=-8IddgDUniQ YouTube - Linkin Park (Mike Shinoda) - Umbrella, Live Cover (Official) ] ] Lillasyster, Biffy Clyro, Plain White T's, Carrie Underwood, [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBambfD3ghU "Underwood and Urban duet on cover of "Umbrella"] ] OneRepublic, [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-0uUt7ycRk "OneRepublic does Umbrella"] ] Mandy Moore, My Chemical Romance, [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faozv8fZI4Y "My Chemical Romance cover - Umbrella"] ] Tegan and Sara, [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6det5KVQclM "Tegan and Sarah does Umbrella"] ] Amanda Palmer, [http://youtube.com/watch?v=0WWuZRd-O3c "Amanda Palmer cover"] Children Of Bodom, [ [http://youtube.com/watch?v=dL3RL6nivVs YouTube - Umbrella - children of bodom melbourne 08 ] ] Syesha Mercado [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXtlS62bJTs "Syesha Mercado - Umbrella - Live in Toronto"] ] , JDB & CG, and Taylor Swift. Pop-punk outfit All Time Low recently covered the song for the Fearless Records compilation album Punk Goes Crunk. The Mexican YouTube celebrity Mak made a video for Umbrella's original version, but it was removed. The intro for the song can still be seen on his YouTube channel. Italian band Vanilla Sky covered the song, as well as a low-budget video for the song. Former Stone Roses frontman and current solo artist Ian Brown performed a brief cover version of the song during his Green Room performance at the Oxegen 2008 music festival in Ireland, changing the line "Know that we'll still have each other" to "You can tickle me with a feather." [http://www.nme.com/news/ian-brown/38123] The folk band Clint Michigan also produced a cover version and in 2008 released a video set to a vintage cartoon. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUU4OeiCXuc YouTube - Clint Michigan - Umbrella Cover] . Umbrella also succeeded British band McFLY, with their Number 1 single, Baby's Coming Back - who then went on to Double A-Side Umbrella with their release of The Heart Never Lies. Umbrella was also covered on McFLY's Greatest Hits So Far Tour in 2007.

Reported coincidence with weather "Rihanna Curse"

The song's reign at #1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland occurred as the region was hit by extreme rainfall and flooding, which led The Sun to jokingly suggest the two events were related, with the media referring to it as the "Rihanna Curse". Interestingly, the precise day the song was knocked from the #1 position by Timbaland, the weather seemed to improve. A similar situation occurred in New Zealand, where the song hit #1 in the early winter of 2007 as the country was experiencing some of the worst storms in its history. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=264&objectid=10452521 "Nzherald.co.nz"] ] In Greece, "Umbrella" was released at a time when people were suffering through a summer of several major heatwaves topping 47C/117F and the worst forest fires in modern history, killing 60 people. When the song peaked at #4 in the Greek singles chart in October 2007, the country experienced significant rainfall. Spain also experienced one of its wettest summers in decades, and the coldest August since the beginning of the 20th century during "Umbrella"'s chart run. It should also be noted that the video for Umbrella was shot on Friday the 13th of April, adding further coincidence of the curse.

Charts

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/chrisapplebaum Chris Applebaum (Umbrella’s Director)] on MySpace
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUU4OeiCXuc Clint Michigan's cover on YouTube ]