Rihanna stripped bare

With the weather outside as unrelentingly miserable as poor old Bradley from EastEnders, and New Year's Eve still a whole four days away, you probably need something warm and fuzzy to cheer you up. Well, help is at hand, because Rihanna has been kind enough to record a new, acoustic version of 'Umbrella', a song about love, loyalty and friendship you might have heard a couple of times over the summer.

The massive electro wall of sound has been replaced by guitar strums, finger-clicks, strings and... that's pretty much it. While Rihanna's always going to be more Britney than Whitney in the old trilling department, her "live" vocal is much better than anyone who watched her Live Earth would believe.

If you're tempted by a bit of Rihanna in the raw, the acoustic version of 'Umbrella' is available for download on iTunes now. Well, it's got to beat another mug of hot chocolate, right?