Rihanna Once Banned This Item From Her Concerts Due to Risk of Injury: "I Couldn’t Believe It"

Few musicians have attained the legendary status that Rihanna has in the music industry. She cemented her status as a global superstar through her alluring voice and mesmerizing performances throughout the 2000s. Beyond her artistic talent, though, Rihanna made headlines in 2008 for a totally unexpected choice: she banned umbrellas at her concerts. Although it may appear strange, this bizarre action was motivated by a sincere concern for the security of her fans.

It is known how successful Rihanna was with the song Umbrella. It was her second-biggest number-one hit, which topped the charts for seven weeks and was awarded Double-Platinum status back in 2008. When the song got popular, Rihanna and her crew may not have taken into account the fact that fans began showing up to any concerts she performed after the release with umbrellas. In fact, things got so out of control that Rihanna was forced to forbid umbrellas at her concerts.

Rihanna's performances are energetic and lend themselves well to dancing. So it might become a problem when you add umbrellas to the dance. The Daily Star's Playlist reported, per NME, that security personnel took fans' brollies before they entered the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre for the star's performance there in March 2008.

Andy McDonald, a security guard, stated to the newspaper, "We don’t normally ask people to leave an umbrella outside. But we were taking precautions over a potential accident. We were told that Rihanna’s song features dancing with umbrellas on stage. We didn’t want the crowd following her actions and someone getting their eye poked out."

A fan in attendance, Shonagh Henderson, was quoted as saying, “I couldn’t believe it when I had mine taken off me. I always carry an umbrella as the weather is dodgy and snow was predicted to fall.”

According to Billboard, Umbrella had one of the highest digital debuts in the country at the time and ultimately topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in a row. According to the outlet, there were so many people who downloaded the music from the streaming service iTunes that it briefly crashed. One of Rihanna's greatest successes in terms of her musical endeavors, Umbrella continues to receive regular radio play today. 

Although Rihanna's unmistakable vocals may have helped Umbrella become popular, it turns out that Britney Spears was the song's original intended performer. Songwriters Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who also wrote the hit song Me Against the Music, which was made popular by Madonna and Britney Spears, got back together to record a brand new song at the start of 2007 that would become Umbrella. Nash and Stewart first approached Spears about recording the song for her album Blackout, but the singer turned them down, per VICE.

References:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/tabloid-hell-162-1335550

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/rihannas-umbrella-reigns-again-on-hot-100-1050964/#!

https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3g7qy/umbrella-was-originally-written-for-britney-spears