“Umbrella” is a song recorded by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, featuring a rap verse by rapper Jay-Z. The song was written by The-Dream, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, and was produced by Stewart. It was released as the lead single for Rihanna’s third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad. The track was released worldwide on March 29, 2007, and since its release, “Umbrella” has been covered by many artists worldwide and became a zeitgeist hit in pop culture.
Critics gave positive reviews of the song, many appreciating the “ella, ella” hook. It is generally considered her signature song and achieved commercial success by topping charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as reaching the top ten in many other countries. In the United Kingdom, where the song’s chart performance generated controversy when the country was experiencing excessive flooding and large amounts of rain at the time, it is deemed an iconic song and was one of the most played songs on radio in the 2000s. It managed to stay at number-one on the UK Singles Chart for ten consecutive weeks, the longest run at number one for any single of that decade. Following a successful chart performance worldwide and a positive reception from critics, the song is listed number three on the 100 Best Songs of 2007 published by Rolling Stone magazine.
Rihanna performed “Umbrella” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards and was the closing song of the Good Girl Gone Bad and the Last Girl on Earth tours. The accompanying music video features Rihanna covered in silver paint. In 2008, “Umbrella” earned Rihanna and Jay-Z a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in addition to receiving nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
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. 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. Rihanna also contributed her own ideas towards the video shoot, suggesting to Applebaum that she dance en pointe, an idea which he accepted. The music video premiered on April 26, 2007 at 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 Total Request Live at number 10, 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. 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
REFRENCE :