Rihanna
Sia wrote and recorded "Diamonds" in approximately 15 minutes while waiting for her car. The first line out of her mouth was "Shine bright like a diamond." Eminem and Kanye West had both been offered the beat before her. Producer Benny Blanco initially rejected Sia's vocal version as "not hook enough" and was overruled. Despite being the song's sole author, Sia refused to appear in the music video or any promotion, negotiating those terms as a condition of her participation. The song became Rihanna's 12th number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Diamond certification from the RIAA, the industry's highest sales award.
In our deep dive into Diamonds, we trace the song from 15 minutes in a parking lot to the chart run and the songwriter who made a career out of staying invisible, and what it reveals about how a hit gets made when the person who wrote it refuses to be seen.
