Rihanna's Jay-Z-featuring #1 hit "Umbrella" was not originally written for Rihanna. Songwriters The-Dream and Tricky Stewart originally wrote the song with Britney Spears in mind, and when her camp passed on the song, they offered it to Mary J. Blige. On a new episode of Carmelo Anthony's 7PM In Brooklyn podcast, Blige discussed her decision not to record "Umbrella."
The conversation came up when Anthony asked Blige about a beat or a song that "got away" from her. "It's not something that got away from me, it's just that I know what's for me and what's not for me." She continued:
So, it was during the Breakthrough album and “Be Without You” was on fire, and the whole album was on fire, and I was nominated for eight Grammys. And Dream and Tricky came to me with “Umbrella.” All I heard was “eh, eh,” and I was like, “yo, my fans are gonna bug out on me if they hear me talking about ‘eh, eh, eh.’” So I was like, "I got a lot going on. I'm gonna pass." Then when I heard Rihanna do it, I was like, “See, it was for Rihanna. It wasn't for me.” I'm not afraid to pass on something that's not for me. It got away, it got away, but it wasn't for me in the first place.
See a clip of the above quote below, and the full episode below that.
