Rihanna battled Mary J. Blige to record her whirlwind international hit ‘Umbrella’.

The Barbados born singer was devastated when she heard Blige wanted it as well.

“Any songwriter would die for Mary to sing one of their songs. So I just prayed that I got it. It was perfect for me – it had a West Indian groove,” Rihanna tells the British tabs. “When I saw one of the songwriters at the Grammy Awards, I went up to him and said, ‘Listen, ‘Umbrella’ is my song.’

“He must have thought I was really pushy and laughed it off. But I held his face and I turned it back to my own, ‘No, I’m serious, I need ‘Umbrella’.

“Two days later we found out the song was mine.”