Rihanna On "Birthday Cake:"

Pop starlet Rihanna has broken her silence regarding her controversial collaboration with ex-beau Chris Brown. The two recorded two songs together last month, to much criticism from media, fans and bloggers.

"I reached out to him about doing 'Birthday Cake' because [he was] the only person that really made sense to do the record -- just as a musician. Despite everything else, that was gonna be the person," RiRi told Ryan Seacrest. "You know, I thought about rappers, [but] the hottest R&B artist out right now is Chris Brown. So I wanted him on the track -- It was a tradeoff."

"We did two records -- one for my fans, one for his fans," she added. "That way, our fans could come together. There shouldn't be a divide. It's music and it's innocent."