‌Mary J. Blige simply dropped some music trade data about one of many greatest hits she by no means recorded.

The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul revealed she had first dibs on Rihanna‘s monster hit “Umbrella” however walked away with out wanting again. Talking on Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, Blige defined precisely why she handed on what turned a seven-week primary smash.

The story goes again to 2006, when Blige was driving excessive off the success of The Breakthrough album. Her single “Be With out You” was dominating charts and she or he had eight Grammy nominations below her belt.

That’s when producers The-Dream and Tough Stewart walked into her world with a observe that might change every little thing.

“Dream and Tough got here to me with ‘Umbrella,’” Blige instructed Anthony throughout their dialog. “All I heard was [the vocalized refrain] ‘aye, aye,’ and I used to be like ‘Yo, my followers is gonna bug out on me in the event that they hear me speaking about ‘aye aye, aye.’”

The R&B legend trusted her instincts fully. She knew her viewers in and out after years of constructing that connection by her emotional music.

The catchy hook that might later develop into iconic simply didn’t match her model at that second.

“So I used to be like, ‘I bought quite a bit occurring. So I’m going to move,’” Blige continued. Her choice got here from confidence, not concern. She understood what labored for her sound and what didn’t.

The observe ultimately landed with Rihanna in 2007 because the lead single from Good Lady Gone Unhealthy. Jay-Z jumped on the remix and the tune become a worldwide phenomenon.

It spent seven consecutive weeks at primary on the Billboard Sizzling 100 and have become considered one of Rihanna’s signature information.

However Blige has zero regrets about her alternative. When she heard Rihanna’s model hit the airwaves, every little thing clicked into place for her.

“Once I heard Rihanna do it, I used to be like, ‘See, it was for Rihanna. It wasn’t for me,” she defined. “I’m not afraid to move on one thing that’s not for me. It bought away, it bought away, nevertheless it wasn’t for me within the first place.”

The tune’s journey to Rihanna wasn’t simple both. The-Dream and Tough Stewart initially wrote “Umbrella” with Britney Spears in thoughts.

When Spears’ camp declined, they provided it to Blige subsequent. After her move, the producers discovered their good match in Rihanna.

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