Rihanna Defends Her Recent Chris Brown Collaborations: "It's Music and It's Innocent"

Singer speaks out for the first time about why she decided to work with her ex-boyfriend

By Peter Gicas Mar 15, 2012 5:27 PMTags
Rihanna, Chris Brown Jason Merritt/Getty Images; John Shearer/WireImage

Rihanna has opened up about why she decided to hook up—musically, that is—with her ex, Chris Brown.

As fans of both artists know, the former couple tweeted out collaborative remixes last month of their respective songs "Birthday Cake" and "Turn Up the Music."

So just how did this reunion on record occur?

"I reached out to him about doing 'Birthday Cake' because that's the only person it made sense to do it with," Rihanna explained to Ryan Seacrest on Thursday morning when she called in to his KIIS-FM radio show. "Just as a musician, despite everything else, that was going to be the person."

In other words, Rihanna felt that her former boyfriend was simply the best man for the job.

"You know, I thought about rappers, and I've done that so many times, and the hottest R&B artist right now is Chris Brown," she said. "So I wanted him on the track, and then in turn he was like, 'Why don't you do the remix to my track?' and it was a trade-off."

Rihanna, no doubt aware of what people are thinking about all this in light of Brown's 2009 assault on the singer, added:

"We did two records. One for my fans, one for his fans, and that way our fans can come together," she said. "There shouldn't be a divide, you know? It's music and it's innocent."