Update!

Rihanna on Chris Brown Aftermath: "I Woke Up as Britney Spears"

Singer talks about her traumatic experience with ex-boyfriend on the cusp of the release of her first video from her upcoming album

By Breanne L. Heldman Nov 03, 2009 7:14 PMTags

Apparently, it's time.

Since Rihanna's horrific altercation with then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February, the "Umbrella" singer may not have kept a low profile, but she certainly has not been talking.

Until now. Today marks the first we're hearing from her on the situation, whether in snippets from her interviews with Diane Sawyer and Glamour magazine, or in her music video for "Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)," her first single from Rated R.

The star is set to appear on Good Morning America on Thursday and Friday mornings and 20/20 Friday night, but her first quote has just been released.

"This happened to me…it can happen to anyone," she tells Sawyer. "He was definitely my first big love."

Of that fateful night, the 21-year-old tells Glamour, "I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day."

Eight months later, and she's already looking on the bright side of the whole scandal.

"My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery," she tells the magazine. "The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn't heard. Now I can help speak for those women."

But that wasn't the only positive thing to come of the whole thing—such drama was guaranteed to inspire any musician, and Rihanna is no exception.

The grainy, raw, black and white music video for "Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)" launched today, and between the cinematography and the eye patch, it's appropriately gritty.

"I've put everything I wanted to say for the past eight months into my music," she says. "[My new album] is super fearless—which is exactly how I feel right now. I am in a really good place."

(Originally published Nov. 3, 2009, at 7:46 a.m. PT)

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Rihanna also has catapulted into full-on fashionista status. Check her out in our Fashion Spotlight gallery.