Rihanna Calls Collab With Chris Brown “Innocent”

Rihanna took to the airwaves Thursday to defend her recent (professional) reunion with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, the singer explained why she reunited with Brown, who physically assaulted her three years ago by saying, "I reached out to him about doing ‘Birthday Cake’ because that’s the only person that really made sense to do the record. You know I thought about rappers, and I’ve done that so many times, and the hottest R&B artist out right now is Chris Brown."

She later said that Brown asked her to guest on his track "Turn Up the Music (Remix)", explaining, "One for my fans. One for his fans, and that way our fans can come together. There shouldn’t be a divide. You know? It’s music, and it’s innocent."