Sadly, Grihanna was not to be
Grimes is set to debut new material at the Governer's Ball in New York this weekend, and one of her new tracks will be a little something she wrote for Rihanna. At least, it was meant to be for RiRi, but the Bajan singer slash CFDA Swarovski-encrusted wet dream turned it down.
Co-written with LA producer Blood Diamonds, Grimes tweeted that it was "kinda different from regular Grimes" due to the Rihanna spec. The idea of Grimes (Grihanna?) shouldn't come as a surprise: both artists are signed to Jay Z's Roc Nation label.
also for those at gov ball, u should stick around for my final song because its special & top secret & new, actually im playin 3 new songs
— grimes of tarth (@Grimezsz) June 4, 2014
but the last song is one me and @BLOOD_DIAMOND5 wrote for rihanna but they turned it down it so its kinda different from regular grimes
— grimes of tarth (@Grimezsz) June 4, 2014
Grimes shouldn't be too offended about her song landing on Rihanna's rejection list: the singer has actually turned down several tracks that went on to become hit songs for other musicians. Rita Ora's "R.I.P" was written specifically by Drake for Rihanna and called "I'm Ready For You", but RiRi passed on it (awkward). Selena Gomez's "Come and Get It" almost appeared on Talk That Talk, but didn't make the final cut. Gomez went on to sell a million copies of the song.
Rihanna's biggest pass? She turned down the Mike WiLL Made It-produced "We Can't Stop" because she heard his beat for "Pour It Up" and didn't get around to hearing his other track. The song sold over two million copies for Miley in the US.
Stargate have confirmed that they are right in the middle of producing Rihanna's new record, which is expected to drop sometime this autumn.
Watch Grimes talk about her songwriting process and getting into the studio here: