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A hit Rihanna song contains hidden references to Eighties pop songs, the songwriter has revealed.
Speaking on Daniel Wall’s Behind The Wall podcast, Evan ‘Kidd’ Bogart shared the secret Easter eggs he’d put into the lyrics of 2006 song “SOS”.
“When I wrote it I had no idea what I was doing,” he said. “The whole second verse of that song is just Eighties song titles strung together as sentences because I thought it would be super clever.”
Bogart went on to detail the songs he used: the first line of the verse is “Take on me, aha”, referencing the famous song of the same name by the band A-ha.
The lyrics go on to read: “I could just die up in your arms tonight” – referencing “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”, the debut single by British pop rock band Cutting Crew.
“I melt with you” – a song by British new wave band Modern English.
“Head over heels” – a song by British band Tears for Fears for their second studio album Songs from the Big Chair.
“You keep me hanging on” – covered by British singer Kim Wilde.
And, finally, “The way you make me feel” – famously released by Michael Jackson.
Bogart didn’t pick just any song titles to include in the verse; “They’re all number one songs from the Eighties,” he said.
The tactic clearly worked as “SOS”, co-written by Bogart and J. R. Rotem, built around a sample of Soft Cell‘s 1981 smash hit “Tainted Love”, and recorded by Rihanna, was the lead single from her album A Girl Like Me.
It was a commercial success, becoming the Barbadian singer and Fenty founder’s first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.
