popmusiclife: AUDIO: Rihanna talks about working with Chris Brown

Rihanna makes headlines all the time, but her recent reunion with former boyfriend Chris Brown – on record, at least – really stirred up some reactions from fans and the general public.

Given Brown’s past physical abuse of the pop superstar, a lot of people couldn’t make sense that Rihanna would give Chris the time of day, but she tells Ryan Seacrest that she was the one who initiated his participation on her “Birthday Cake” remix …prior to her singing on his “Turn Up The Music” remix .

“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,” explained Rihanna. “Despite everything else, that was going to be the person. 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. It’s music, and it’s innocent.”