The Guy Who Wrote Rihanna’s “SOS” Just Dropped A Huge Bombshell About The Song, And You Better Sit Down For This
How do you just casually drop this on us 18 years later???
You know Rihanna. All hail the queen.
You also know her song “SOS.” You’ve definitely spent many nights dancing to it in the clurrrrrrb, or singing it alone in your car. No shame either way. Point is, it’s an incredible song and we all know it.
So I know what you’re thinking: why are we talking about “SOS”? It came out in 2006, which believe it or not, was more than just a couple years back. This song has been alive and well for EIGHTEEN years.
Well, there’s a very specific reason we’re talking about “SOS” today. And it has to do with a guy named Evan Kidd Bogart.
You might not know Evan, but you *definitely* know his music. He was a co-writer on “SOS,” but also: “Halo” by Beyoncé, “Classic” by MKTO, and the greatest song in history: “Ready or Not” by Brigit Mendler.
Anyway, Evan recently appeared on Daniel Wall’s music podcast “Behind the Wall,” and he revealed something MONUMENTAL about “SOS.” Something even the most die-hard Rihanna fans had no idea about.
Without further ado, here it is — the Easter egg that went above all our heads for almost 20 years. “The whole second verse of that song is ’80s song titles strung together as sentences,” he said, “because I thought it would be super clever.”
I’M SORRY, WHAT???? There must be some kind of mistake. But it’s true! Thankfully, Evan proceeded to go through the second verse, lyric-by-lyric — it starts by referencing “Take On Me” by a-ha, which appears in the “SOS” lyric: “Take on me (uh-huh), you know inside you feel it right.”
Following that lyric, Rihanna then sings “Take me on,” which is also directly from “Take On Me.” But then she says “I could just die up in your arms tonight,” which comes from Cutting Crew’s 1986 hit “(I Just) Died in Your Arms.”
The next lyric is “I melt with you, you got me head over heels (over heels).” And that lyric comes from the 1982 song “I Melt With You” by Modern English (great song, BTW), plus Tears For Fears’ hit “Head Over Heels.”
AND WE’RE NOT DONE YET. Lastly, right before the second chorus, Rihanna sings, “Boy, you keep me hanging on,” referencing Kim Wilde’s 1986 song “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” and then “The way you make me feel,” which I’m sure we all now realize is the exact title of a Michael Jackson chart-topper.
So it’s a very specific genre that he chose to highlight in that song, and instead of us freaking out over the clever tribute, we totally missed it. And the podcast host, Daniel Wall replied with the exact words we’re all thinking: “That’s incredible. I had no idea.” Evan then said, “No one does. No one does.”
But I guess the good news is, WE DO NOW! And we’ll never be able to hear the song the same way again. The clip is, rightfully so, getting tons of positive comments from RiRi fans who JUST learned this monumental news:
This dude did not need all that for this to be a banger, but that’s actually insane
— Anthony Russo (@Anthony_Russo97) October 16, 2024