Music3 min(s) read
Published 16:18 03 Apr 2026 GMT
Songwriter behind one of Rihanna's biggest hits reveals hidden secret messages he included in the lyrics
The songwriter behind one of pop superstar Rihanna's biggest early hits has revealed the secret message he left in the song's lyrics.
Rihanna may now be one of the most successful pop stars of all time - but even she started somewhere and there was a moment in time when even the Bajan Queen was trying to climb to the top of the charts.
One of the tracks to get her there was SOS - a funky dance-pop banger that sampled the beat of Soft Cell's notorious 80s classic Tainted Love.
It was Rihanna's first-ever US Number 1 song (she now has a cool 14), but the songwriter and producer behind the pop hit revealed that there's a secret message he left for listener's in its lyrics.
What is the secret message hidden in Rihanna's hit SOS?
Evan Kidd Bogart was one of the most reliable hitmakers in the mid-to-late 00s, churning out smashes for likes of Beyoncé ('Halo'), The Pussycat Dolls ('Jai Ho! You Are My Destiny') and Bridgit Mendler ('Ready Or Not').
One of his earliest hits came when he linked up with Rihanna during the creation of her second album, A Girl Like Me.
The Barbados native had struck gold with her debut record, which included the Top 10 hit Pon De Replay, and both Rihanna and her label were looking for the next big song to take her career to the next level.
Bogart helped write and produce 'SOS' for Rihanna and it did just that - hitting Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first song to do so. But Bogart revealed to the Behind The Wall podcast that the second verse of the song actually has a hidden message.
"I took my favourite 80s pop songs and used the titles and strung them together to form sentences," Bogart said.
"I thought it’d be really clever to do that. No one ever seems to notice apart from me."
And if you listen to the song in full... you can tell he's right. Seemingly, the second verse of 'SOS' directly calls out 'Take On Me' by a-ha, '(I Just) Died In Your Arms' by Cutting Crew, 'I Melt With You' by Modern English, 'Head Over Heels' by Tears For Fears, 'You Keep Me Hanging On' by Kim Wilde and 'The Way You Make Me Feel' by Michael Jackson.
When will Rihanna release new music?
Rihanna hasn't released a full-length album since 2016's Anti, which was her eighth album overall.
In the ensuing years, Rihanna has sporadically released one-off singles for the soundtrack of films, like 2022's Oscar-nominated 'Lift Me Up' for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and last year's 'Friend Of Mine' from The Smurfs Movie.
Recording on Rihanna's ninth studio album (R9) is still ongoing. The project was apparently done and ready to drop a few years ago, but Rihanna postponed its release due to pregnancy. Initial reports said the album would be a mix of reggae and pop.
But the album may finally be with us soon. Last year, Rihanna announced she'd finally "cracked" the sonic world she wanted to explore in the project, so keep your eyes peeled.