Mar 25, 2021 The song’s producer, Benny Blanco, reflected on the origins of the chart-topping 2012 hit, which he wrote and produced with Stargate and Sia. While speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Blanco admits that he originally wanted the song to go to Kanye West or Lana Del Rey. However, his collaborators had other ideas. “Stargate’s like, ‘Yo, we’re giving this song to Rihanna. It’s going to go,'” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know, man. Should we keep the beat for Kanye? I don’t know about it.'” Around the same time, he submitted the song to Eminem’s manager for consideration and Eminem ended up cutting the record. “I remember, at the same time, I had given a beat CD like a month earlier to Paul Rosenberg to give to Eminem. And apparently, Eminem had done a song to it, too. And I didn’t even know. And I’m sitting there… Dude, so when it happened, Paul was like, ‘Man, Em had that beat on hold.’ I was like, ‘What? I didn’t even know.'” The song eventually found its way to Rihanna, a decision he doesn’t regret. “I’m sitting there, and then I finally am like, ‘You know what, Stargate?’ I let go. I said, ‘You guys know better. Let’s do it,'” said Blanco. “She cut the song. First of all, the second she cut the song, they were completely right. I was like, ‘This is the best song I’ve ever done.'” As fate would have it, Kanye ended up on the remix to “Diamonds.” “And then, this is how life works, full circle. Kanye West does a remix to the song.” https://www.rap-up.com/2021/03/24/benny-blanco-eminem-recorded-rihanna-diamonds/
Mar 25, 2021 Also interested in how it would've sounded on MMLP2 (if that was even the title at the time).
Mar 25, 2021 He was working with Sia back then, and Sia wrote Diamonds, I guess it was gonna be another Sia feat. The beat is pretty slow for Em though.
