 Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote " That the song is just plain good , regardless of genre , proves that Jay and Rihanna , who 's already scored hits across several formats with a string of singles that couldn 't be more different from each other , are dedicated to producing quality hits — however frivolous they may be . " Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters.com said that " " Umbrella " is a monster , so much so that I 'll even confess to spending a portion of a rainy afternoon practicing the hook . " Jonah Weiner of Blender magazine called the song the album 's highlight and stated that it " would be far less engrossing if it wasn 't for the way Rihanna disassembles its ungainly title into 11 hypnotic , tongue @-@ flicking syllables " . The New York Times ' Kelefa Sanneh described the song as " a space @-@ age hip @-@ pop song " . 
