Rihanna and Chris Brown stirred up some controversy last month when they reunited musically for the remixes to their songs “Birthday Cake” and “Turn Up the Music.” Earlier today, Rihanna commented for the first time on how the collaborations came about, calling Chris “the hottest R&B artist out right now.”

Calling in to radio show “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” Rihanna confirmed what “Birthday Cake” producer The Dream previously said: that she was the one to reach out to her ex.

“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.”

She also explained her reasoning for getting Chris on the track and wanting to bring their fan bases together.

“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.”

For his own part, Chris recently released a song called “How I Feel” where he speaks about the infamous 2009 assault and the fallout from the incident.

As for Rihanna, she will release the video for her next single “Where Have You Been” soon and is already planning a new album. You can listen to the full interview here.

Previously: Photos: Drake And Rihanna Get Close For Take Care Video