On a recent episode of the podcast Behind The Wall, a show that seeks to highlight behind-the-scenes creatives in music, the Grammy-winning songwriter Evan ‘Kidd’ Bogart revealed the surprising, 80s-inspired process behind writing Rihanna‘s hit single, “SOS.”
The pop icon’s first number one single was evidently the first pop song Bogart wrote, ever. Evan began his career at Interscope Records, where he worked on 2Pac’s posthumous album and eventually helped to discover/A&R Eminem before transitioning to songwriting. His experience writing hip-hop lyrics was integral in crafting “SOS’s” internal rhyme schemes: “if you really look at how that song is written,” he shares, “it’s not written by someone who knows anything about writing pop music.”
The biggest reveal Bogart shared is that “the whole second verse of that song is ’80s song titles strung together as sentences because I thought it would be super clever.” If you examine it closely, it’s clear as day: Rihanna starts the verse with “take on me, a-ha,” and other lines include “I could just die up in your arms tonight,” referencing Cutting Crew’s 1986 track, “I melt with you,” the title of Modern English’s 1982 song, and “You got me head over heels,” calling back to Tears For Fears’ hit. The song continues with, “Boy, you keep me hanging on,” borrowed from Kim Wilde’s “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” and the verse ends with her singing, “the way you make me feel,” a nod to Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” from 1987.
Perhaps referencing all those number one hits manifested Rhianna’s own number one. “SOS” appeared on Rihanna’s second album, A Girl Like Me. Bogart co-wrote the track with J. R. Rotem. The track samples another 80s hit, “Tainted Love,” so original writer Ed Cobb also received a credit. “SOS,” topped the Billboard chart for three weeks and was later certified triple platinum.
Bogart has penned an impressive collection of pop hits, including Beyoncé’s “Halo,” for which he won a Grammy, Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight, Tonight,” MKTO’s “Classic,” and Jason Derulo’s “It Girl.”
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