Was 'Umbrella' rejected by Britney because of her 2007 incident with the paparazzi?

[Fita]

 

Umbrella

In case you didn't know, it was offered for Britney during Blackout sessions, but she didn't use it. Rihanna did, so the rest is history. Did Britney's team or Britney herself reject this track because of the circumstances surrounding that umbrella incident with the abusive paparazzi?

A passage of Britney's book about it:

Spoiler

Quote

I grabbed the only thing within reach, a green umbrella, and jumped out of the car. I wasn’t going to hit him, because even at my worst, I am not that kind of person. I hit the next closest thing, which was his car.
Pathetic, really. An umbrella. You can’t even do any damage with an umbrella. It was a desperate move by a desperate person.
I was so embarrassed by what I’d done that I sent the photo agency an apology note, mentioning that I’d been in the running for a dark film role, which was true, and that I wasn’t quite myself, which was also true.
Later, that paparazzo would say in an interview for a documentary about me, “That was not a good night for her… But it was a good night for us—’cause we got the money shot.”

 

 

I'm a Slave 4 U

I just had a thought about the word 'slave' of I'm A Slave 4 U which in the context of race might have brought a certain weight to the song as Janet was singing it, considering humans past of slavery. And as we know Janet is a black woman, so it could have sounded weird or unconfortable for her? Written by the producers duo The Neptunes, I'm a Slave 4 u was originally meant to be hers. Or maybe she just thought it didn't sound great. 

 

I hope I wasn't being disrespectful.

What do you think of it all? I'm kind of just fanficcing here, tbh 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Fita

[reverendB]

If I had to venture a guess regarding Britney and Umbrella, I'd say no. The incident with Britney happened on Feb 16 and the song was released on March 29th. Just barely a month after the incident. I read that Britney's team passed on it as they felt they already had enough songs for Blackout. 

[Sia]

You know Britney fans are bored when they start coming up with stuff like this.

A simple search would tell you that Rihanna released Umbrella in March of 2007, merely a month after Britney's umbrella incident. So unless you're suggesting that Rihanna recorded and shot the video in a 3 week period, then it's safe to say that your theory about why Britney didn't record the song is fan-fiction at best. More than likely, Rihanna recorded the song in 2006.

[Isla]

I'm not sure about Slave and how Janet would have felt about the song. I think I read Janet actually recorded Boys before Britney did though.

As for Umbrella, I don't think so. The song probably would have been conceived around late 2006 (possibly early 2007, but that is a bit of a stretch) as the song was released in March 2007, but the word was that Jive rejected it because Britney "had enough material already". Again, I'm not even sure if that was true as Britney was recording for Blackout up until summer 2007 but that was their statement anyway. I always thought Jive just didn't like the song enough and that was an excuse. I can't imagine Britney singing it anyway. It was also considered for other artists before Rihanna eventually got it (Mary J Blige is one). 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Isla

[glorified.ho]

'Umbrella' is not my cup of tea, so I'm glad she rejected the track -- if that actually did happen. 

[Nina Dobrev]

3 hours ago, Sia said:

You know Britney fans are bored when they start coming up with stuff like this.

A simple search would tell you that Rihanna released Umbrella in March of 2007, merely a month after Britney's umbrella incident. So unless you're suggesting that Rihanna recorded and shot the video in a 3 week period, then it's safe to say that your theory about why Britney didn't record the song is fan-fiction at best. More than likely, Rihanna recorded the song in 2006.

We get nothing but IG videos of *** touching and twirling, yeah, this fanbase is bored as **** even if the delulu's say they aren't 

[RBFLOVESBRITNEY]

4 hours ago, Fita said:

 

Umbrella

In case you didn't know, it was offered for Britney during Blackout sessions, but she didn't use it. Rihanna did, so the rest is history. Did Britney's team or Britney herself reject this track because of the circumstances surrounding that umbrella incident with the abusive paparazzi?

A passage of Britney's book about it:

  Hide contents

 

 

I'm a Slave 4 U

I just had a thought about the word 'slave' of I'm A Slave 4 U which in the context of race might have brought a certain weight to the song as Janet was singing it, considering humans past of slavery. And as we know Janet is a black woman, so it could have sounded weird or unconfortable for her? Written by the producers duo The Neptunes, I'm a Slave 4 u was originally meant to be hers. Or maybe she just thought it didn't sound great. 

 

I hope I wasn't being disrespectful.

What do you think of it all? I'm kind of just fanficcing here, tbh 

HA LOL I have never even thought about that. Im glad she didnt as much success as Umbrella had its a terrible song and doesnt fit the sound of Blackout. 
 

As for Slave for U that is interesting take on it. Though didnt Pharrell write it?

[Fita]

52 minutes ago, Nina Dobrev said:

We get nothing but IG videos of *** touching and twirling, yeah, this fanbase is bored as **** even if the delulu's say they aren't 

We are 

[Fita]

4 hours ago, Sia said:

You know Britney fans are bored when they start coming up with stuff like this.

Hi, Sia

Yeah, I feel bored when it comes to B news here. At least I'm putting out some contents or making some movements.

4 hours ago, Sia said:

A simple search would tell you that Rihanna released Umbrella in March of 2007, merely a month after Britney's umbrella incident. So unless you're suggesting that Rihanna recorded and shot the video in a 3 week period, then it's safe to say that your theory about why Britney didn't record the song is fan-fiction at best. More than likely, Rihanna recorded the song in 2006.

I admit I didn't search that and I knew I could, but I didn't. I wanted to talk about it here with y'all. Sometimes I do search infos and other times I go here and turn it into a chat/discussion, it's more interesting. Maybe there would be even less threads in Britney's section here if everytime someone were in doubt about something they would search it. It's a community  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Fita]

1 hour ago, RBFLOVESBRITNEY said:

HA LOL I have never even thought about that. Im glad she didnt as much success as Umbrella had its a terrible song and doesnt fit the sound of Blackout. 
 

As for Slave for U that is interesting take on it. Though didnt Pharrell write it?

I like Umbrella but I agree it does not fit Blackout sound.

Well, according to wikipedia (where else would I go??? lol) Pharrel Williams and Chad Hugo (the neptunes) wrote Slave. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Fita

[Wendy Williams]

 

[trip to my touch]

yeah it was defn written and recorded longer time before the incident

[Nina Dobrev]

19 hours ago, Fita said:

We are 

I wish we were eating like other fans but nahhh 

[Fita]

14 hours ago, Whitney Houston said:

 

Girl, I posted it first, look it up 

[Fita]

2 minutes ago, Nina Dobrev said:

I wish we were eating like other fans but nahhh 

Swifties are eating very well now 

And little monsters are eating poorly just like Britney Nerds 

[Wendy Williams]

1 hour ago, Fita said:

Girl, I posted it first, look it up 

I just choosed the best ones 

[Fita]

Just now, Whitney Houston said:

I just choosed the best ones 

[Kritney]

On 12/19/2023 at 7:55 AM, Sia said:

You know Britney fans are bored when they start coming up with stuff like this.

A simple search would tell you that Rihanna released Umbrella in March of 2007, merely a month after Britney's umbrella incident. So unless you're suggesting that Rihanna recorded and shot the video in a 3 week period, then it's safe to say that your theory about why Britney didn't record the song is fan-fiction at best. More than likely, Rihanna recorded the song in 2006.

I believe Riri acquired “we found love” on the spot, recorded it immediately and then it was released within a three week window. She don’t mess around. It could be true. 

[Almost Mystical]

No. If I have a catalog full of iconic material like gimme more and piece of me, I would reject umbrella too. It was a successful song at the time for Rihanna, but 16 years later Blackout is still a cultural zeitgeist. 

[Wendy Williams]

2 hours ago, Fita said:

Iconic