"Umbrella" is a hip-hop, R&B and pop song by Barbadian singer Rihanna, with a rap verse by Jay-Z, released in 2007. Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Kuk Harrell are credited as composers, with The-Dream also writing the lyrics. Written in January 2007 at Triangle Studios in Atlanta, the song was first intended for Britney Spears before Antonio Reid secured it for Rihanna. It was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles and became the lead single and opening track of the album Good Girl Gone Bad (Def Jam, 2007).
The song is in verse-chorus form, opening with a rap verse, followed by the "ella, ella" hook, a bridge and a fadeout. The album version runs about 4:36, in B-flat minor with a G-flat major bridge, at 87 BPM. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on digital sales alone and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in 2007 after the biggest digital debut in Nielsen SoundScan history. Chris Applebaum's music video, in which Rihanna is covered in silver paint, won Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. Entertainment Weekly named it the best single of 2007, and Rolling Stone placed it 332nd on its 2021 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
