Rihanna explains recent Chris Brown collaborations

Rihanna and Chris Brown (Photo: Euroweb.com)

Rihanna has explained why she decided to collaborate with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown on two remixed singles, three years after the latter's highly-publicized assault on the former.

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest on his syndicated morning radio show Thursday, Rihanna said it "made sense" and it's "innocent."

"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," the "We Found Love" singer said.

Brown nearly destroyed his career after he was arrested for beating up his then-girlfriend, Rihanna. He has been trying to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of fans with mixed results since that time.

The musical reunion of Rihanna and Brown was a hot topic online. The collaboration had mixed reactions from fans with some making cynical comments, others calling it a publicity stunt and many embracing the new songs.