Rihanna's “SOS” is one of the defining songs of the mid-2000s, but as it turns out, the track has really had a huge rise since the 1980s.
In a new clip released Tuesday from a recent interview with him Behind the Wallsongwriter Evan “Kidd” Bogart — who wrote the song's lyrics with Edward Cobb and Jonathan Rotem — has revealed an Easter egg hidden in the second verse of the 2006 hit that he says has gone unnoticed by listeners for nearly 20 years .
“I had no idea what I was doing,” recalls host Daniel Wall. “The whole second verse of this song is '80s song titles, harmonized as sentences, because I thought that would be super clever.”
Bogart went on to describe exactly how each verse corresponds to a song title, starting with “Take on me, ah-hah,” a reference to the 1985 smash “Take On Me” by — wait for it — the band A-ha. Rih then sings “I could just die up in your arms tonight” on the track, which matches Cutting Crew's 1986 banger “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight,” followed by “I melt with you”, which doubles as the verbatim title of the 1982 Modern English track.
Other song titles that appear in the verse include 1985's “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears, 1986's “You Keep Me Hangin' On” by Kim Wilde, and 1987's “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson. Watch as Rih sings on “SOS,” “You got me in the face/ Boy, you keep me hanging, the way you make me feel.”
As Bogart also pointed out, many of these hidden songs were Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits. 1 — another fitting detail, considering “SOS” earned Rihanna her first of 14 total No. 1s (so far) on the chart: “Take On Me,” “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” and “The Way You Make Me Feel” reached the top of the chart.
Watch Bogart break down the second verse of “SOS” below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/rihanna-sos-songwriter-80s-song-titles-hidden-1235803319/
