Like fellow modern divas Ciara and Cassie, Rihanna's all about dispassionate poise and restraint. I admit I caught the video on VH1 while in a hotel eight time zones away, jetlagged and homesick, and almost burst into tears.Ĥ. From Lean On Me to You Got a Friend to, er, the theme from Friends, I'll-be-there-for-you-when-times-get-tough has been done to death, but the umbrella is such a simple, brilliant metaphor, and the delivery so proudly unsentimental, that it sounds brand new. It reworks one of the oldest, sappiest sentiments in pop. Is he trying to tell us something? Ten minutes to Wapner!ģ. Amusingly, Jay refers to himself as Rain Man. It overcomes the worst introduction imaginable in the shape of Jay-Z's inept, stumblebum rap, a blatant branding exercise to attract urban radio. Plus - and more on this later - it's about rain, for crying out loud. Neither laidback and fuzzy nor upbeat and exuberant, it's more like a rock power ballad stripped down to drums, voice, and thundercloud synths. It's such an improbable R&B summer smash. I wouldn't object too strongly if something (specifically Amerie's Gotta Work, though I'm open to suggestions) dislodged it in the near future, but until then, here are nine reasons to celebrate the song of the summer.ġ. They are both bona fide, the-nation-has-spoken hits which still sound fresh and unpredictable.
I've never met anyone who owns a copy of Bryan Adams' Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (16 weeks, 1991), Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You (10 weeks, 1992) or Wet Wet Wet's version of Love Is All Around (15 weeks, 1994), but someone must have been buying the buggers.īut last year, Gnarls Barkley's curiously addictive Crazy deserved every one of its nine weeks at the top and I reckon the same is true of Umbrella. Traditionally, the long-running number one is a blight on the airwaves.
Photograph: David LeveneĪnd so we enter the ninth week of the long and glorious reign of Rihanna's Umbrella, the undisputed song of the summer - indeed, the year.
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