It's 2006. Ah yes, a simpler time for most. Except maybe alt-rockers Hoobastank, who are tasked with the impossible: releasing the follow-up to their sophomore album, 2003's The Reason, featuring the quintessential shower-crying Platinum-selling title track — which would go on to have a viral resurgence on TikTok in 2021.
The band ended up releasing the respectably RIAA Gold-certified Every Man for Himself, but the process wasn't without some tough cuts. And even Rihanna wasn't immune.
Of course, it was 2006 — long before RiRi became the wealthiest woman in music. Still, she had released her debut album, Music of the Sun, the year prior. You know, the one with the undeniable hit single "Pon de Replay"? And she would have already begun the A Girl Like Me rollout with that album's flawless lead single "SOS," so you could say there was probably enough to go on.
Back to 2023. In light of the pop star's Super Bowl Half Time Show, Hoobastank admitted that they had made a grave, grave mistake. The band claim that Rihanna had sung on a version of one of the Every Man for Himself songs, but they decided to include the version of it that didn't feature her on the album.
"Fun fact: @rihanna was featured on a Hoobastank song on their 3rd album," the big H tweeted, referring to themselves in the third person for some reason. "After hearing it, they decided to use the version WITHOUT Rihanna on it because……. well……..because……. they made a mistake."
UPDATE (2/15, 4:14 p.m. ET): In a statement to Consequence, lead singer Doug Robb expanded on the tweet, writing:
Back when we were recording our third album, Every Man for Himself, we were approached by someone at our label, Island Def Jam, about potentially featuring a "new artist" on one of the songs. This kind of stuff happens all the time. We said, "Sure. Who do you have in mind?" It was Rihanna. I had never heard of her. I don't think anyone else in the band had, either, at the time.
We gave her camp a song called "Inside of You." I think they rearranged some of the music to create a pre-chorus section, that wasn't originally part of the arrangement, for her to sing a small part on. We heard it and didn't really love it so we passed on using it. It's really just that simple. I think we had already gotten used to hearing the song as it was written so it just felt weird to us.
I think if we had done a proper collaboration with her, writing the song knowing there was gonna be another artist on it and making space for it, we probably would have felt differently and used it. I think the way we did it was just wrong. The paint had already dried so to speak. Well, it was that, plus a stunning lack of vision to see what a star Rihanna was going to be.
We'd run into her at various award shows after and she was always very sweet and super cool. I think everything worked out ok for her in the end.
The band ended up releasing the respectably RIAA Gold-certified Every Man for Himself, but the process wasn't without some tough cuts. And even Rihanna wasn't immune.
Of course, it was 2006 — long before RiRi became the wealthiest woman in music. Still, she had released her debut album, Music of the Sun, the year prior. You know, the one with the undeniable hit single "Pon de Replay"? And she would have already begun the A Girl Like Me rollout with that album's flawless lead single "SOS," so you could say there was probably enough to go on.
Back to 2023. In light of the pop star's Super Bowl Half Time Show, Hoobastank admitted that they had made a grave, grave mistake. The band claim that Rihanna had sung on a version of one of the Every Man for Himself songs, but they decided to include the version of it that didn't feature her on the album.
"Fun fact: @rihanna was featured on a Hoobastank song on their 3rd album," the big H tweeted, referring to themselves in the third person for some reason. "After hearing it, they decided to use the version WITHOUT Rihanna on it because……. well……..because……. they made a mistake."
UPDATE (2/15, 4:14 p.m. ET): In a statement to Consequence, lead singer Doug Robb expanded on the tweet, writing:
Back when we were recording our third album, Every Man for Himself, we were approached by someone at our label, Island Def Jam, about potentially featuring a "new artist" on one of the songs. This kind of stuff happens all the time. We said, "Sure. Who do you have in mind?" It was Rihanna. I had never heard of her. I don't think anyone else in the band had, either, at the time.
We gave her camp a song called "Inside of You." I think they rearranged some of the music to create a pre-chorus section, that wasn't originally part of the arrangement, for her to sing a small part on. We heard it and didn't really love it so we passed on using it. It's really just that simple. I think we had already gotten used to hearing the song as it was written so it just felt weird to us.
I think if we had done a proper collaboration with her, writing the song knowing there was gonna be another artist on it and making space for it, we probably would have felt differently and used it. I think the way we did it was just wrong. The paint had already dried so to speak. Well, it was that, plus a stunning lack of vision to see what a star Rihanna was going to be.
We'd run into her at various award shows after and she was always very sweet and super cool. I think everything worked out ok for her in the end.
At least they continue learning? And so do we — it's something we must live with every day.
