Umbrella 'didn't work' for Britney Spears
Friday, March 28 2008, 13:12
By
Simon Reynolds, Entertainment Reporter
Rex Features
Singer/songwriter Taio Cruz has confirmed that
'Umbrella' was offered to Mary J Blige and
Britney Spears before Rihanna turned it into a worldwide hit.
Speaking to the
Daily Telegraph, Cruz said: "They [Spears's representatives] sent it back saying it didn't work for her."
Mary J Blige recently claimed she turned the track down because it was
too mainstream.
Cruz, whose friend Christopher 'Tricky' Stewart co-wrote the song, attributed its success to the shrinking attention spans of music fans.
"The audience can be distracted quite easily, so you want something they can sing along with immediately," he said.
"[It's] so simple, it's like a playground chant. If you look at the most successful songs, they are choruses of four of five words, three notes, repeated. It's not rocket science."
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