Rihanna Wanted Chris Brown Collaboration, Says Producer The-Dream

Producer The-Dream has defended Rihanna's decision to include former boyfriend Chris Brown on her new track 'Birthday Cake'.

The pair, who dated until Brown assaulted the singer in 2009, both featured on each others new remixes.

In an interview with Billboard, The Dream said:  It was Rih's idea. Not only do we work together, but [she] 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.

For me, it's just music – two talented people doing a record together, doing two records together, and that's what it was. It wasn't about an incident that happened. The true thing really is to forgive, and you want to believe in people.

Adding"I think [the topic] that should be more on the tongues is – how do we proclaim to be a nation of forgiving, and we go by all of these rules and everything, but we can't actually do it?," he said. It actually makes you look weaker than your adversary – if you don't have "the power to forgive, but you lie and say that you did. If [Rihanna] can forgive, that's where she is mentally. As a friend, it's like, 'Okay, cool. Let's roll.'"

However, Rihanna and Chris Brown's collaboration has now sparked concern amongst domestic violence experts.