Analysis

Cover of “Umbrella”

Released in late March 2007, "Umbrella" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart by May, rocketing 40 spots in one week to land at #1 and staying there for seven straight weeks. Rihanna has preformed several songs and is a very talented woman. The first thing that you need to know about the Umbrella song lyrics is that Rihanna sings the whole song but she actually takes on two roles. In opinion, during the first half of the song, she plays the role of evil that is trying to seduce her; we could call this the Devil. The second role she plays is herself; the song is a dialog between the Devil and Rihanna. “You’re part of my entity” is very relevant here because “entity” is not a word in the vocabulary used between loved ones. Nobody will say to his/her lover “You’re part of my entity”. An entity is not human. An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it is not a material existence. They band All Time Low was formed in the year 2003, in Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. Umbrella," from the Umbrella album "Umbrella" , was covered on the All Time Low album "Punk Goes Crunk."

That brings us too the question, what does under my umbrella really mean throughout Rihanna’s song? Overall the song talks about a storm that's about to take place. This song, "You can stand under my umbrella" can have a sexual connotation but it mostly means "You can be under my protection". When you are under something's protection, this something has more power than you and your own security. You depend on it. It has control over you. IT possesses you. This leads us to think, it’s the devil that Rihanna is talking about. Furthermore there are several poetic devices to detect throughout the song; alliteration and consonance impact the song most. For example, “Maybe in Magazines but you’ll still be my star,” also “when the sun shines/we’ll shine together.” This is a form of alliteration because several of the words in these lines share the letters “m” then “s” at the beginning of the word. Consonance on the other hand is when the middle of the words shares the same letters, so it makes the song flow. For example, “Baby cause in the dark”/ “And that’s when you need me there”/ “If the hand is hard”/ “Together we’ll mend your heart”/ “Told you I’ll be here forever.” These few lines share common letters. The first line chosen shares the letters “a” following that line, the next letter shared is “e.” Continuing the consonance pattern the third line shares the letter “a” and lastly the fourth line contains the letter “e.” The usage of consonance and alliteration make the song livelier and the listener seems to enjoy the song 35% more according to statistics.

Although Rihanna gets a lot of credit for her works, the All Time Low's version cranks up the punk-pop. After doing research it seems that a lot more people like All Time Low’s version better. It pulls out the meaning when it’s less hip-hop and more acoustic sounding like Rihanna’s. The song lyrics share both alliteration and consonance. I think the thing that turns peoples heads would be the tone and the mood of the song. All Time Low’s version is defiantly better, it catches ones eye. The tone of the song is more upbeat, and the mood just seems to be more confident and happier with the way they express each individual line. Also, after doing more research I do not think that the reasoning of making this song is the same meaning. I believe that All Time Low’s version is more relationship related where as Rihanna’s version is about the devil. All Time Low set this a love song in their album. The lines “Baby cause in the dark”/ “And that’s when you need me there”/ “If the hand is hard”/ “Together we’ll mend your heart”/ “Told you I’ll be here forever,” express the way they feel about their girlfriend and how they will always be there to take their part in the relationship.

All in all I seem to like All Time Low’s version better, I like the punk-pop feeling and the way they expresses their feelings to the listeners. The song umbrella is a commonly covered song, several artist out there have covered this song. The only difference of the song is the meanings of the lyrics. Overall I think that the song is a good song, when it’s talking about relationship of a man and woman, not of someone and the devil.