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.

The statement reads:

Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person.

Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and-or reported in the media is wrong.

I wrote last week on my Unreality Shout blog that I suspected the celebrity press were fabricating a lot of the reports around this situation. There’s certainly enough to confirm that there was an argument between Chris and Rihanna – especially after this statement – but still, claiming that he beat her with an UMBRELLA was just ridiculous.

Surely the situation is scandalous enough without making shit up? The celebrity press have once again proved themselves to be heartless vultures in the reporting of this incident. There’s obviously no such thing as sensitivity or tact in that industry.

In all honesty, I hope Chris gets help for this. And it goes without saying that he’s going to pay for his actions. Not only will this get dragged through the courts, but it’ll get dragged through the media and cost him more in damage to his reputation and loss of earnings. I’m sure it’s a sobering experience.

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.

If I’d written this review a couple of weeks ago, the end result would be that I hated it. But having been bombarded with Disturbia lately, I’ve grown to love it.

The clarity of Rihanna’s vocals is excellent as usual (look at me, like I was talking about a fine wine). You’ve got this futuristic thumping backing track and that unmistakeable voice cuts through it all. And I love that little “We’re in the city of wonder” refrain.

One thing’s for sure, you never know what this girl’s going to come out with next. When you consider last year it was straight R&B with Jay-Z intros, Disturbia proves that Rihanna will always keep us guessing.

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.”

Maroon 5 frontman, Adam Levine, said there was such chemistry on set he found it hard to concentrate. “Well I always find it hard to concentrate – so she doesn’t make it any easier.”

Adam continued to rain compliments on the Umbrella star, revealing just why he wanted to work with her: “She’s obviously beautiful and talented and amazing, and I just thought,’Hey, there’s really no better choice.”

“Yeah, we do have chemistry,” he continued. “You don’t really know until you show up and do the video. So the fact that it worked out today is incredible because you can also, it can go the opposite direction. So thank god we did have chemistry.”

The chemistry was also felt by Rihanna who, when asked to describe Adam in one word, said “Hot”.

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.

4. Shut Up And Drive

The follow-up to the massive Umbrella, Shut Up And Drive was a much needed injection of hi-octane rock. With some suggestive lyrics about handling her curves and running the lights, it’s a racy little number (pardon the pun, folks).

Oh yeah, and the video features one of them there all-female garages where the mechanics are impossibly hot and can wear white overalls without getting dirty. That, people, is how you know it’s a fantasy, by the way.

3. Umbrella

Undoubtedly her biggest hit to date, Umbrella gets marked down somewhat for the severe overexposure it enjoyed during the summer. Still one of the best tracks of her career, and – if you read my review – that intro from Jay-Z eventually grew on me.

It’s bizarre to think that this track was offered to Mary J Blige first. I don’t think it would have been nearly as popular though.

2. SOS

2006’s SOS is one of my favourite Rihanna songs – an electro-pop rehash of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love. Guess what though? It’s another song that was offered to a different artists – Christina Millian this time – before landing on L.A. Reid’s desk.

In the video, Rihanna sports a variety of different looks, most of them smoking hot. Probably one of my favourites as she looks quite bubbly and fun compared with other videos where the hair and dress are quite harsh.

1. Pon de Replay

Rihanna’s debut single, and in my opinion her best release so far. I remember loving how different she sounded compared with other female acts at the time.

A fantastic dance/pop track that still sounds fresh two years later. Here’s the video, turn the music up….

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.

If you’re expecting as strong a track as Umbrella, don’t. This is good, but I have to agree with the team at Urban Review:

This Rock tinged track has some simple, unfortunate, pop inspired lyrics, but looking past that is a hot single that should do well. It’s not my favourite track from the album but will serve Riri well as a second single.

I don’t know who the hell is doing makeup and wardrobe on these videos for Rihanna, but she looks her absolute best when she’s cute and girly. Some of the hairstyles and clothes they give her are ridiculous. Yes, that includes those ridiculous oversized shades…

Shut Up And Drive made our list of the Top 5 Rihanna Singles. Go check it out.

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!

On Radio 1 today, Edith Bowman was asking if Rihanna had surpassed Beyonce yet. I think she’s close to taking the crown. Rihanna’s young, sassy and has a really sexy singing style. Her only low point was Unfaithful. She should stick to the slick R&B material and leave the lame ballads to someone else.

Speaking of Beyonce, why-oh-why do we have to endure a dire appearance from Jay-Z before the song kicks in? Jay-Z’s great, but the rap here is totally out of place. (I thought he’d retired anyway?)

Anyway, for what it’s worth, we’re loving Umbrella here. We still think the best Rihanna single so far is Pon De Replay, though. What’s your opinion?

The Video

What can we say about the Umbrella video? Well, for a start Miss Rihanna looks pretty foxy in that PVC gear. We didn’t like the computer generated rain – it was crap. Surely they could afford for get decent effects instead of a mucky gray splodge.

Umbrella is from Rihanna’s new album, Good Girl Gone Bad. It also made our Top 5 Rihanna Singles list.