Rihanna's smash hit "Umbrella" is such the perfect pop song, you'd think it fell from heaven fully formed and ready for prime time play like the singer herself, right? Well that ain't how it works. But it's pretty close.
"Umbrella" wasn't written by fairies or angels or kittens. It was written by Southern songwriter The-Dream (born Terius Youngdell Nash), a singer himself, who refers to his sound as “Prince meets R.Kelly at a T-Pain concert in ATL.”
He's also had his hand in writing Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop" and several of breakthrough artist J. Holiday's breakout hits, including "Bed." He's worked with Nicole Scherzinger, Sting, Eve and even Canada's "greatest singer in all the world" Celine Dion. He co-wrote Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music" and most recently Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine," which he penned with Tricky Stewart.
So the story goes, he wrote "Umbrella," which was originally intended for Mary J., in 12 minutes, which is unsurprising considering he wrote his album in an unheard-of nine days. The album, his debut, is called Love Hate and features Fabolous and Rihanna.
It's due out on Def Jam in December, but you can download the Fabolous-backed track "Shawty Is A 10" for free right now on "Discover & Download." Plus, check out The-Dream in action in his "Shawty Is A 10" video, and read more about The-Dream at The Pop Culture Junkie's extensive interview.