Producer The-Dream says that it was “Rihanna’s idea” to ask former boyfriend Chris Brown to collaborate on a remix of her song “Birthday Cake,” three years after the couple got in a physical fight that landed her in the hospital and him pleading guilty to assault.
“It was Rih’s idea,” the producer, whose given name is Terius Nash, tells Billboard. “Not only do we work together, but [Rihanna] is a friend of mine. And it’s like, ‘You wanna do something? Then cool, let’s do it.’ I don’t know how she got the logistics and how it happened — maybe she’ll talk about it one day. I showed up at the studio, and it was like, ‘All right, cool, let’s finish this record,’ which we probably should have finished the first time we did it.”
RIHANNA AND CHRIS BROWN RECORD TWO SUGGESTIVE SONGS TOGETHER
The song “Birthday Cake” originally appeared on Rihanna’s album “Talk That Talk,” which was released in November. However, the song was just a 1 minute and 18 second snippet. Rihanna and The-Dream finished the bawdy song with Brown’s assistance.
Rihanna has been widely criticized for doing the song with Brown, in which he sings, “Girl I wanna [bleep] you right now. Been a long time. I’ve been missing your body,” as well as for lending her vocals to Brown’s track, “Turn Up the Music.” But The-Dream says that he applauds the duo’s collaboration after their checkered past.
“For me, it’s just music — two talented people doing a record together,” explained The-Dream. “It wasn’t about an incident that happened. The true thing really is to forgive … If she can forgive, that’s where she is mentally. As a friend, it’s like, ‘OK, cool. Let’s roll.'”