According to Billboard, Chris Brown has publicly apologized for the incident where he apparently hit Rihanna after a pre-Grammy Awards party.

In a round-about way, this seems to confirm that Brown was responsible for hitting his girlfriend. As you might expect, the statement was released by his publicist. This would be in large part to keep him away from the media and to limit the already substantial damage to Brown’s career. A number of advertisers and sponsors have now dropped Brown from their campaigns because of his new image as the poster boy for domestic violence.

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Rihanna continues to display her penchant for re-invention with Disturbia. It’s a much darker tune and video than we’re used to from her, the same type of departure Maneater was for Nelly Furtado.

In a video that looks part zombie movie, part S&M dungeon, we see Rihanna straddling a shop mannequin. Good girl gone bad indeed.

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Rihanna has revealed on GMTV how much she’s enjoyed teaming up with Maroon 5 on their next single, If I Never See Your Face Again.

Speaking to GMTV’s Carla Romano in LA, the Good Girl Gone Bad said that working alongside the pop rockers was “Awesome for me”.

She went on to heap praise on the lads, saying: “Maroon 5 are one of my favourite bands and when they approached me to do this record, I was like, ‘Any song, I don’t care if it’s a song that I don’t like – I want to do it because Maroon 5 is dope’. But fortunately I love this song, I think it’s a smash.”

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Rihanna returns with new single Don’t Stop The Music, borrowing a line or two from Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin Somethin along the way.

If this single proves anything it’s how diverse Rihanna can be with her releases. Sure, she’s firmly grounded in pop, but she can handle the low-key hip-hop of Umbrella, flip to classic balladry like Unfaithful through rock like Shut Up And Drive and then to a thumping club track such as Don’t Stop The Music.

You all know I’m a big Rihanna fan anyway. This isn’t my favourite track, coming in a little monotonous for my tastes. All the same, it’s one of those tracks that has a great foundation for endless club remixes.

No video to share today, because although Universal Music Group are clever enough to put the video on YouTube for free, they’re too damned primitive to allow us to put it on our site. Grrr.

Don’t Stop The Music made our list of the Top 5 Rihanna Singles. Check it out and tell us if you agree.

It’s hard to believe, but Barbados-born warbler Rihanna’s been bothering worldwide charts since 2005, peaking in the summer of 2007 with Umbrella.

She’s one of the hottest pop/R&B artists in the world right now, so we’ve taken a look back over Rihanna’s singles and picked out the best musical moments of her career so far. Starting with…

5. Don’t Stop The Music

This one hasn’t been released in the UK yet, but it’s going to be an instant dancefloor classic.

It’s probably the most blatantly club-oriented track Rihanna has released to date (yes, even better than SOS). Pumping bass, classic Jacko sample and tres hot video. Brill.

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After 100 weeks as the UK’s number 1 single with Umbrella, the general public should know who Rihanna is by now. Let’s face it, Umbrella has been the soundtrack for this summer.

In contrast to the smooth R&B of Umbrella, Shut Up And Drive ramps up the distorted guitars and we end up with an infectious fusion of rock and pop.

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How hot is Rihanna? Quite a bit, we think. Well, she’s back with a fantastic new single, Umbrella and a fairly weird video.

At first listen, Umbrella’s not a wonderful track. But who are we to argue with relentless radio and video play? After a few listens, you’ll be found wandering down the street singing “ella-ella-ella” at the top of your voice like a moron!

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