Rolling Stone considers Britney Spears not recording and releasing “Umbrella” one of the 50 Worst Decisions in Music History

[CHAOTIC STYLE.]

“When Tricky Stewart co-wrote “Umbrella” in 2007, he imagined Britney Spears singing it. They had worked together on her 2003 Madonna duet, “Me Against the Music.” But Spears was battling a lot of personal demons when the song was sent over to her team, and they decided it wasn’t worth recording. “Umbrella” ultimately made its way over to Def Jam and a young artist named Rihanna. It hit Number 1 all over the world and turned the singer into one of the biggest stars of her era. If Britney had recorded “Umbrella,” the last 15 years of pop-music history might have unfolded very differently.”

The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History

WWW.ROLLINGSTONE.COM

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The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History. Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, KISS, Elton John...

 

[GlitterRain]

I’ve always wondered what it would have sounded like with Britney signing it.

[PokemonSpears]

the thing with these things, is that we'll never know.

Probably if Britney recorded it, it would've remained an album track in Blackout or something, and nothing would've happened with it. 

 

It's like when we think about TLC passing on BOMT. Or Kylie Minogue with Toxic, we just can't assume that the songs would have the same fate, because it's obvious that they would sound very different to begin with. Perhaps they wouldn't get the single treatment, or maybe they would've gotten the wrong promo. Even without the iconic music videos they wouldn't be the same. 

 

And as much as I'm a believer of "every song would sound better if sung by Britney",  I'm really not sure about Umbrella. I can hear the choruses in Britney's voice, but the verses would sound weird, or maybe I just have Rihanna's vocal style too ingrained in my head.

[Emil87]

I believe it was her team who turned the song down without Britney even hearing it. She has a great ear for music and I don’t think she woulda passed this up. Either way, I think Rihanna got more than 1 of Britney’s rejects and should be very grateful..

[CHAOTIC STYLE.]

2 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

the thing with these things, is that we'll never know.

Probably if Britney recorded it, it would've remained an album track in Blackout or something, and nothing would've happened with it. 

 

It's like when we think about TLC passing on BOMT. Or Kylie Minogue with Toxic, we just can't assume that the songs would have the same fate, because it's obvious that they would sound very different to begin with. They could not get the single treatment, or maybe they would've gotten the wrong promo. Even without the iconic music videos they wouldn't be the same. 

 

And as much as I'm a believer of "every song would sound better if sung by Britney",  I'm really not sure about Umbrella. I can hear the choruses in Britney's voice, but the verses would sound weird, or maybe I just have Rihanna's vocal style too ingrained in my head.

I can’t imagine Britney singing Umbrella ☔️ to be honest. Rihanna did a wonderful job with it & her vocals suits it best. 

[Kletus]

Yeah but do you remember Britney’s “Telephone” demo  and let’s not forget when Kylie Minogue tried “Marry the Night” 

[cillaward]

It was probably for PR reasons more than anything. Wasn't this around the time of the infamous umbrella incident?

[blackingouthenegativity]

21 minutes ago, Kletus said:

Yeah but do you remember Britney’s “Telephone” demo  and let’s not forget when Kylie Minogue tried “Marry the Night” 

Rolling Stone is going to read your comment and write an article about how Britney's "Telephone" demo is one of the best pieces of recorded music in history

[Urbanney]

I disagree. There would’ve been too much controversy (more than there already was) with her paparazzi umbrella incident, and honestly, the song didn’t age well. Neither did Telephone. I’m glad she didn’t go with either. Where would Umbrella even fit in with the theme and sound of Blackout? It wouldn’t. And she wouldn’t have promoted and performed it like Rihanna did.

Now Millshake on the other hand would’ve been a serve!

[Kletus]

4 minutes ago, Urbanney said:

I disagree. There would’ve been too much controversy (more than there already was) with her paparazzi umbrella incident, and honestly, the song didn’t age well. Neither did Telephone. I’m glad she didn’t go with either. Where would Umbrella even fit in with the theme and sound of Blackout? It wouldn’t. And she wouldn’t have promoted and performed it like Rihanna did.

Now Millshake on the other hand would’ve been a serve!

Her team probably got sent Umbrella after the umbrella incident and immediately called the police! 

[SosEtaSeth]

Whoever made the decision to not finish the demo of Telephone should be smacked in the face with a brick.

[s&m]

Ratihanna can stay with that trash song along with her trash discography and horrible voice 

[Cqleb]

I can already see the memes if she did it

[GlitterRain]

59 minutes ago, SosEtaSeth said:

Whoever made the decision to not finish the demo of Telephone should be smacked in the face with a brick.

 It was sooooo good and would have been iconic had she of done that song. 

[LeavinExhaleByYearEnd]

2 hours ago, Style. said:

I can’t imagine Britney singing Umbrella ☔️ to be honest. Rihanna did a wonderful job with it & her vocals suits it best. 

Umbrella is all over Rihanna style. I can’t imagine with Britney. It turned to be great how things ended up.

[Isla]

I disagree with this. I can't picture her singing it at all. The song was made for Rihanna and it actually helped her career.

[stanLOONA]

These happens a lot, but I can't helpt but wonder that maybe that doesn't change anything. idk if the song itself can hold changing artists. Like I'm not 100 % sure that if Britney took Umbrella it would've been a hit like it was with Rihanna, as Toxic with Kylie Minogue and so on. Sometimes it takes the artist + the song to make it work 

[pablitonizer]

I love Rihanna, but honestly I can't stand 'Umbrella'. That song made me hate her when she became massive, and it took me until 'Russian Roulette' to finally love Rihanna so no, thanks 

 

So I'm glad this never happened 

[Isla]

2 hours ago, cillaward said:

It was probably for PR reasons more than anything. Wasn't this around the time of the infamous umbrella incident?

I'm pretty sure the song was written before that happened. Iirc Tricky Stewart said he wrote the song to be about Britney's relationship with her children.

[lunario]