Mary J. Blige has revealed she was once offered Rihanna’s era-defining hit Umbrella, but decided to pass after deciding the song simply was not right for her.
Speaking on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, the RnB icon explained that her reaction to the early demo was immediate and instinctive. At the time, she could not imagine her audience embracing its playful hook.
“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.’”
The track, co-written by Jay-Z alongside producers Tricky Stewart and Kuk Harrell, with additional writing from The-Dream, would go on to become one of the biggest pop singles of the 2000s once Rihanna recorded it. Hearing the final version only confirmed Blige’s instincts.
“Then when I heard Rihanna do it, I was like, ‘See, it was for Rihanna, it wasn’t for me. It got away, but it wasn’t for me in the first place.’”
Released in 2007, Umbrella topped charts in 19 countries and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2008. In the UK, the song became inescapable during a summer marked by heavy rain and flooding, turning it into one of the most played radio tracks of the decade.
Interestingly, Mary J. Blige was not the first artist linked to the song. Umbrella was originally written with Britney Spears in mind, a detail later confirmed by The-Dream during a 2017 appearance on Drink Champs.
“That record was written out of pure pressure in life,” The-Dream said.
“The record was written for Britney Spears.”
After Spears’ team declined the track, word spread quickly through industry circles. Rihanna, then on the rise, made her intentions clear before the song had even been recorded.
“She walked up to my manager and said ‘that’s my f*****’ record!’” The-Dream recalled.
“That’s the mutha**** who should have the record.”
The rest is pop history. While Umbrella became synonymous with Rihanna’s breakthrough into global superstardom, Mary J. Blige’s decision stands as another reminder that sometimes the right call is knowing when a hit belongs to someone else.
