Rihanna is not "crazy" for working with Chris Brown.
Producer The-Dream admits he had concerns about their collaboration on 'Birthday Cake' but felt the 'Russian Roulette' hitmaker was "smart" enough to make the right decision, despite knowing some would slam the record because of Chris' 2009 conviction for assaulting his then-girlfriend.
He said: "She's pretty smart. The same questions that went through my mind, and I'm an artist also, had to have gone through hers.
"When she raised the question to me, I know she's not crazy. So my thought was you've been thinking about this, you've already thought it out, so evidently you know what reaction you gonna get."
The-Dream believes the track sends out an important message of forgiveness but insists the collaboration is purely about music rather than the pair's past history.
He told Billboard.com: "It was Rih's idea. Not only do we work together, but [Rihanna] 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."
