Rihanna Talks To Ryan Seacrest About Chris Brown On “Birthday Cake”

We can’t help it. Our ears tend to perk up whenever Rihanna has something to say. In her latest interview with Ryan Seacrest, the restless sleeper dished on plenty of topics ranging from creating her own fashion line to the weather in London — plus her forthcoming movie debut in Battleship, of course. But what we really wanted her to divulge on was why she decided to feature her abusive ex on “Birthday Cake”: “I reached out to him about doing ‘Birthday Cake’ because that’s the only person that really… it made sense to do the record. Just as a musician despite everything else that was going to be the person.” (Some would say he’s the person who made the least sense, but alright.) Hear the full interview below.

Here is RiRi’s full explanation of why she chose to work with Brown:

“The first song that came about was ‘Birthday Cake.’ I mean we ended up recording them at the same time and executing them together, but I reached out to him about doing ‘Birthday Cake’ because that’s the only person that really — it made sense to do the record. Just as a musician despite everything else that was going to be the person. 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. 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. We did two records. 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.”

Does this sufficiently explain Rihanna’s controversial choice? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments.