Chris Martin in awe of Rihanna

Chris Martin was terrified to ask Rihanna to appear on Coldplay's new album.

The British rockers are set to release their highly-anticipated fifth record, Mylo Xyloto, next month. The track Princess of China features Rihanna, and Chris was thrilled when she agreed to the collaboration.

"The album is designed as a whole piece. It has boy and girl lead characters and top of our list for the girl part was Rihanna... but it took a while to pluck up the courage to ask her,' he told British newspaper The Sun. "We did a show in Las Vegas and I met her and said, 'Do you think there's any chance?' I was very Hugh Grant-like and spluttering about it.

"She has such an amazing voice and it's so different to mine. When the vocal happened I thought, 'Wow, you sound different,' but I think that's also because she was singing a different song to what we are used to hearing from her."

Chris also spoke about choosing such an unusual title for their new album. While there has been much speculation about what Mylo Xyloto means, the rocker admits people shouldn't look too deeply into it.

'At the moment it seems a bit ridiculous and I accept that,' he said. "Something about it feels quite fresh. The title doesn't have any other meaning. I think we're a band with a lot of history now so it's nice to come up with something that doesn't have any history at all. We've had that title for about two years on a board. Other ones made more sense but we just liked this one, that's all we can defend it with."

Despite selling over 50 million albums worldwide, Chris refuses to take the group's success for granted. He realises that while Coldplay have plenty of fans, they also have their detractors.

"We're getting to the age where you've got to deliver or quit. Just because we were popular then, doesn't mean we are now,' he added.

"The thing you have to accept in return for having very loyal fans is you have a lot of other fans that want to kill you. And that's OK. It's hard to accept at first but after a while you have to be comfortable with it."

The 34-year-old singer went on to pay tribute to the late Amy Winehouse. The British singer died aged 27 in July, and Chris insists the music industry has lost a true talent.

"With a voice as special as Amy's, you could sing about baked beans and I'd still want to listen,' he explained. "She was always going to be a legend because voices like that don't come around that often. But it's just sad because we all miss out - and where might she have gone? We're all just going to miss her in a musical way."

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