In the song "Umbrella," Rihanna tells Jay-Z that she will protect him with her umbrella, which is said as a metaphor for her protection for him. Umbrellas protect people from rain like Rihanna promises to protect Jay-Z from all the bad things in life. I think that because they are both famous, she is talking about how she will always be there with him through the great moments of fame (sunshine) and the bad moments (it raining) when there are tabloids and critique, etc. The beginning part of the song, where Jay-Z rhymes that he "hydroplaned into fame" is a great beginning metaphor for becoming famous. Another thing that I noticed is the personification of the world dealing cards. This is a popular phrase, and she uses it to express how whatever the world throws at them, they will stick it out together. Most of the phrases in the song show unity and protection that Rihanna is willing to offer Jay-Z throughout their life.
Besides all of the metaphors, I noticed Rihanna and Jay Z made several allusions; to Rain Man, Little Miss Sunshine, Dow Jones, and Roc-A-Fella. Rain man is Jay-Z in the song, but it is also a movie from 1986, but also there is another meaning for rain main that is related to the devil. I like to think that since Rain Main and Little Miss Sunshine (2006, came out around the time the song did) are both movies, that they are just using movie titles in a creative way. Little Miss Sunshine is also a little character from the Little Miss series of books by Roger Hargreaves. Roc-A-Fella Records is the record company that Jay-Z started with some other artists. It might have been a Roc-a-Fella song. And lastly, Jay-Z says "Dow Jones" because it is the company that publishes Wall Street Journal. I'm not exactly sure what that means.
I've also noticed that this song can have different meanings depending on who is singing it. It has a broad meaning and can apply to multiple situations. It's nice how Rihanna and Jay-Z collaborated to make a song like this.
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