Hoobastank Reflect On Turning Down A Cameo From Rihanna For Their Third Studio Album

Multi-platinum certified alt-rockers Hoobastank once turned down a guest spot from a then fledgling pop megastar, Rihanna. The band’s vocalist/guitarist Doug Robb recently mentioned that missed opportunity via Twitter, offering:

Speaking further with Consequence, Robb further explained why the pairing didn’t pan out:

“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.”

He continued:

“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.”

Despite that collaboration not working out, Rihanna has apparently remained courteous with the band, “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. 😂.”