Rihanna: "Chris Brown Is The Hottest R&B Artist Right Now" - Audio

15 March 2012, 16:01 | Updated: 15 March 2012, 16:07

The singer says the pair wanted to remove the divide between their fans with recent collaborations.

Rihanna has described her former boyfriend Chris Brown as the "hottest R&B artist right now".

The pair released two collaborations in February, marking the first time they had worked together since they split up in 2009.

The remixes saw Chris feature on RiRi's 'Birthday Cake' and the 'You Da One' star sing on Chris' 'Turn Up The Music'.

Speaking for the first time about collaborations, Rihanna told Ryan Seacrest that the pair wanted to eliminate the divide between their fans.

"We did two records. One for my fans. One for his fans, and that way our fans can come together," she said. "There shouldn't be a divide. You know? It's music, and it's innocent."

When asked about why they recorded both songs, Rihanna said she had initially approached Chris about appearing on '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," she said.

"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.

She added: "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."

Rihanna and Chris split in 2009 following an altercation ahead of the Grammy Awards, which led to the 'Beautiful People' star pleading guilty to assault.

Listen to Rihanna talking to Ryan Seacrest below: