Mary J. Blige Reveals Why She Passed on Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’: “It Wasn’t For Me”

Mary J. Blige is opening up about one of music’s biggest ‘what if’ moments, and she has zero regrets.

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While chatting with Carmelo Anthony on his ‘7PM in Brooklyn’ podcast, the R&B icon reflected on a major hit she once passed on, Rihanna’s chart-smashing anthem ‘Umbrella.’ According to Blige, producers The-Dream and Tricky Stewart brought her the track in 2006 while she was riding high off the success of ‘The Breakthrough,’ she explained:

“…All I heard was [the vocalized refrain] ‘aye, aye,’ and I was like ‘Yo, my fans is gonna bug out on me if they hear me talking about ‘aye aye, aye.’ So I was like, ‘I got a lot going on. So I’m going to pass.”

Hearing only the now-famous “aye, aye” hook, Blige worried her fans wouldn’t connect with the vibe, she said:

“Then when I heard Rihanna do it, I was like, ‘See, it was for Rihanna. It wasn’t for me.”

The song later landed in Rihanna’s hands, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and becoming one of her signature records.

Watch Blige’s full episode: