Umbrella (Lied)

"Umbrella" is a pop/R&B song written by Terius "The Dream" Nash, Christopher Stewart and Jay-Z for Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Featuring vocals by co-writer Jay-Z, it was released as the album's lead single during the second quarter of 2007 (see 2007 in music).. "Umbrella" is recognized as the most successful song of 2007 on the United World Chart, gaining more than 8.160.000 points in less than 7 months. It has been announced as the 9th most successful song of the last decade and has recieved three Grammy Award nominations; Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Following an incredibly successful chart run around the world and a warm reception from music critics, the song achieved #1 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "Ten Best Singles of 2007", as well as #3 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. It was also named Song of the Year in Blender Magazine's Readers' Poll 2007.

Single release

According to the songwriter The-Dream, "Umbrella" was initially offered to Mary J. Blige and Britney Spears, before being recorded and released by Rihanna.

In many parts of the United States, the single was released on March 28, 2007, although its official release date was the following day. The song premiered on the New York radio station Hot 97 and on Rihanna's official website on March 29 at 5:00pm EST.

"Umbrella" premiered on UK radio station BBC Radio 1 on the Scott Mills show and released digitally in Britain on May 14, 2007, its physical release two weeks following.

Promotion

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 perhaps most notably performed "Umbrella" at the MTV Movie Awards 2007. In Germany, she performed the track exclusively at Viva Live, and at the 42nd edition of the highly popular chart show The Dome. "Umbrella" was also performed on Live Earth, GMTV, Loose Women, Blue Peter, Kiss Concert 2007, Sprint Concert, Zoopotia Show, Stripped Show, Canadian Idol, 106 & Park and The View.

Music video

The music video for the single was shot on April 13, 2007, directed by Chris Applebaum and choreographed by Tina Landon. It premiered at 10:00a.m. on April 26, 2007 at http://www.thisisrihanna.com. 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 #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.

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 highest debut-week sum since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking downloads in 2003. On the Billboard year end chart, "Umbrella" was ranked at #2, only behind Beyonce's "Irreplaceable".. Furthermore, total digital sales of the song stand at a reputable 2.46 million. "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 correspondance 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.

This success was exceeded abroad when "Umbrella" topped the UK Singles Chart in May 2007, remaing at #1 for a total of ten consecutive weeks. Such achievement makes it the longest chart topper of the 21st century and since "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet topped the charts in 1994. Following its successful run at #1, the song dropped to #2, replaced in July 2007 by Timbaland's "The Way I Are". "Umbrella" has been announced the second biggest selling single of 2007 in the UK behind Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love". It has since re-entered the UK Top 40 at #38, before climbing to #18 the week of December 30, 2007 and maintains its steady run in the chart. "Umbrella" became the first song by a female artist to debut at #1 on the official UK Singles Chart based solely upon digital sales. Rihanna also became the seventh artist in UK history to score a tenth week at the top of the chart. Overall sales of "Umbrella" (as of November 2007), stand at just over 473,000, being certified Gold by the BPI.

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

In Australia "Umbrella" entered the Australian ARIA singles chart at #1, spent six consecutive weeks at the top, and was certified Platinum by ARIA. It re-entered the top 50 in its 26th week at the position of #46, ending the year as 2007's 3rd biggest seller. In New Zealand, "Umbrella" reached #1 on the New Zealand RIANZ singles chart and remained there for six consecutive weeks, ending 2007 as the years biggest seller.

"Umbrella" is considered Rihanna's breathrough 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 #1 hit in most of the Hispanic American countries, and in some Eastern European territories.

Due to its success in worldwide markets, "Umbrella" reached #1 on the United World Chart, remaining for for 10 consecutive weeks and gaining 8.3 million points thusfar. It ended the year as the most successful song of 2007, beating close competition from similar success story "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado.

Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Argentina Top 40	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Belgian Ultratop 50 Chart	1
Brazilian Hot 100	1
Canadian Hot 100	1
Chile Top 100	1
Czech IFPI radio top 100	1
Dutch Top 40 Singles Chart	1
Danish Top 20	1
Ecuadorian Airplay Chart	1
Euro 200	1
Finnish Singles Top 20	2
French Top 100	6
European Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	1
Greek Singles Chart	4
Irish Singles Chart	1
Israeli Top 20 (GalGalatz)	1

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Italian Singles Chart	3
Latin America Top40	2
México Top 100 Singles Chart	8
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Paraguay Airplay Chart	1
Peru Top 100	13
Philippine Top Hits	1
Poland Airplay Chart	1
Portuguese Airplay Chart	1
Romanian Top 100	1
Spain's "Los 40 Principales"	1
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	4
United World Chart	1

Year End Charts

Year End Chart (2007)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	3
Austria Singles Chart	2
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Belgian Ultratop 50 Chart	5
Dutch Top 40 Chart	8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	4
UK Singles Chart	2
United World Chart	1

Other Versions

"Cinderella Under The Umbrella"

Chris Brown contributed his own written vocals to the song's second verse, chorus and bridge in an answer song entitled "Cinderella Under the Umbrella", which was released to radio stations on June 12, 2007, the remix achieving notable success on US R&B stations for a time.

Acoustic Version

Rihanna recently went back into the studio and recorded an acoustic version of the song with a new arrangement and some added lyrics and has since released the song as a bonus track to "Good Girl Gone Bad" on the iTunes Music Store

Notable Remixes

• Travis Barker Remix
• Remix featuring Lil Mama
• The Lindbergh Palace Remix
• Dancehall Remix featuring Elephant Man
• Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel Remix
• Spanglish version featuring Jay-Z & Ana Velasco
• Will Mellor, parody by Comedy Dave and Chris Moyles

Cover versions and parodies

• Winner of Australian Idol 2007 Natalie Gauci also performed "Umbrella".

• Indie singer-songwriter Scott Simons released a version of "Umbrella" on Myspace and his website which soon became an internet favorite and received radio play on several stations in the U.S. and overseas.

• Upcoming singer Marié 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), have also recorded acoustic versions.

• Pop singer and actress Mandy Moore performed her own version of the song in a slower, more ballad-like arrangement. Moore stated that while she is not the biggest fan of pop music, "...you just can't deny how melodic this song is."

• "Umbrella" has been covered by Biffy Clyro during an appearance on BBC Radio One's Live Lounge.

• The Italian pop punk band Vanilla Sky recorded "Umbrella" for an exclusive on their MySpace in September 2007, receiving over 30,000 plays in its first week online. The music video has also been shown on VH1e.

• Indie pop group Tegan and Sara performed a cover of the song during shows in Kelowna, British Columbia, Calgary, Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, London, Ontario, Tucson, Arizona, Boston, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Boulder, Colorado and Brisbane, Australia.

• Swedish metal band Lillasyster made a hard metal version of Umbrella and also a video for their version of the song under Gain Music Entertainment. This version of the song has received a lot of attention in Sweden, Norway, Germany and even in Thailand, and went on Swedish national radio in September 2007 and received radio play on several stations in Sweden. The video is due to be released on October 10th on Myspace, Lillasyster's website and MTV and Swedish MTV did a piece on the making of the video which was aired October 3 and October 7.

• Irish/English Freakfolk artist Patrick Wolf performed a cover version of the song at the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands in 2007.

• "Umbrella" was parodied, to talk about Salmonella.

• Starsailor covered the song while playing their song "Fidelity" on their Latin American tour.

• The Mint Chicks performed covered this song on New Zealand television show.

• The Axis of Awesome parodied this song in two videos for the 2007 Australian Federal Election, presented by the Sydney Morning Herald. In both videos, ex-federal treasurer Peter Costello is seen playing piano and rhyming to "Peter Costello" instead of "Umbrella"

• Filipino celebrity KC Concepcion covered the song for her documentary special called "Kc.. From Paris to Pinas".

• The Brazilian singer Pitty also covered it in a few live concerts.

• New York Group Push Play covered the song at thier CD Release Party on December 22,2007 at Irving Plaza.

• Filipino band Chicosci also covered a version of this song most likely what My Chemical Romance did.

• Pop-punk band All Time Low has covered this song live.

• Taylor Swift performed this acoustic, which is for download on itunes.

• McFly recorded a rock cover, released as a B-Side on their 2007 single "The Heart Never Lies". They also performed it on their Greatest Hits Tour in 2007.

• The song was parodied in a 2007 episode of the sketch comedy series MADtv, in which Nicole Parker and Jordan Peele impersonated 2008 U.S. Presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama, in a video called "Under Barack Obama", which was sung to the tune of "Umbrella".

Reported Coincidence with weather

The song's reign at number-one in Britain occurred as the country was hit by extreme rainfall and flooding, which led some people to jokingly suggest the two events were related, 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. 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 of 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.

External links

• Chris Applebaum (Umbrella’s Director) on MySpace
• "Umbrella" lyrics on LyricWiki
• "Umbrella" video auf YouTube

References

Vorlage:Rihanna