Can Call If You Want, But There's No One Home...

Now That It's Raining More Than Ever

Wouldn't you know it, the very day after I use a song by Rihanna as the song for the day, the sky over Southern California decides to do some projectile aquatic vomiting like it was Linda Blair in The Exorcist. And for those who aren't fortunate enough to dwell in the Southland, there is one accessory our populace never seems to have handy on the rare occasions it's needed: the um-ba-rella. Ella. Ella. Luckily, with this predictable song offering for the day, Marié Digby's got us covered (so to speak) with my favorite of the countless post-Rihanna renditions of the tune.

Umbrella - Marie Digby

"Umbrella"

Marié Digby

Start Here

Hollywood Records, 2007

Trivia: Marié Digby had produced a little-known album for a Disney subsidiary before she took to YouTube to try and jump-start her career, singing simple acoustic versions of original songs and a few notable covers, including what developed into the track above as well as an intriguing version of Britney Spears' "Gimme More." As is often the way with these tales (at least nowadays), Digby, whose videos had gotten a considerable number of hits, got her largest exposure when the studio recording heard here was featured on the third season premiere of the MTV show The Hills. Digby's original YouTube video has outpaced the other especially notable cover version of "Umbrella" on the site, by erstwhile pop singer Mandy Moore, by about 3 to 1. On her YouTube channel, by the way, Digby is still at it with the covers, recently posting acoustic renditions of such current hits as Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and Owl City's "Fireflies."


Check out Marié Digby's latest album, Breathing Underwater.

Run for Cover

I Ain't Gon' Stop Until I See Police Lights

Before Rihanna got "edgy" (have you heard? Rihanna's "edgy." She rides on tanks in Mickey Mouse ears and poses for GQ and everything.), she actually was kind of edgy, we just didn't get to hear it much. Here's the proof.

Breakin' Dishes - Rihanna

"Breakin' Dishes"

Rihanna

Good Girl Gone Bad

Def Jam Records, 2007

Trivia: "Breakin' Dishes" was one of the two options for the - get this - EIGHTH single released from Rihanna's blockbuster third album Good Girl Gone Bad and its re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, but Def Jam chose the other possibility, the Justin Timberlake-penned "Rehab," which peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 two weeks after its October 7, 2008 release as a single. The term "blockbuster" for Good Girl Gone Bad is not hyperbole: it went 2x Platinum in the USA (meaning sales of at least two million) and has sold over 7.6 million copies worldwide. "Breakin' Dishes" was one of four tracks on the album written by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart (who also produced) and Terius Nash, aka The-Dream, only one of which was released as a single: the other of Stewart's two production efforts, and arguably Rihanna's biggest hit, "Umbrella."

Get Rihanna's latest album, the "edgy" (but intriguing) Rated R (seriously, you can download the whole thing for $5 on Amazon!).

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