Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images and Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Norwegian producers Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, better known together as Stargate, talked to EW about the history behind some of their biggest hits, including Rihanna"s "Diamonds," the vocals to which Sia apparently wrote in "about 12 minutes."
"The car was waiting outside," Hermansen said of the initial recording. "She had her coat on, she had her purse in her lap. We just played her the music, and the first thing out of her mouth was, 'Shine bright like a diamond.' She put her vocal down in about 12 minutes while the car was waiting and then left."
Rihanna loved the recording straight away, and worked overtime to imitate Sia's energy, eventually over-performing.
"Rihanna really went to work on that song because she wanted to capture that character that Sia has in her voice," Hermansen explained. "I think she spent two or three days recording that song, which is very rare. Normally you do it in a day or half a day. It was very important for her to capture that feeling, and she did it so well that Sia thought it was her [own voice on the song]. I think Mikkel opened up the song [file] to prove to Sia that it was Rihanna singing."
Read the full interview, which covers more Rihanna hits, here.
