Rihanna Fights For Her Music

Will.i.am learned a valuable lesson, if this story is true: don't invite Rihanna over to listen to his music while she's working on an album! The Black Eyed Peas member reportedly invited Rihanna over to his house to listen to some of his tracts just as she was completing her 'Rated R' album, and Rihanna "fell in love" with his song 'Photographs.'

"I was in the studio 'cause it was the last night before we had to hand the album in and I was recording. (I) went back (to Will.i.am's house) and he didn't really want to play it (Photographs) at first. He was like, 'Ok, Rihanna's here now. You come to strongarm me?'

But when I heard it, the story is so, so real and I was like, 'This is my story - why do you guys want this song? This is not (Black Eyed Peas' album) The Energy Never Dies, this is deep s**t!'

Everybody knows that feeling that after a break-up, you just feel empty, like I just spent the last how many years in a relationship building this foundation and all I have left to show for it is some photographs, some memories. It was so personal and I wasn't leaving the studio without it.

"It was like three hours long, we listened to the song over and over again and we just kind of stared each other down. And finally he said, 'OK, but you have to come on tour with us.'

"When something is really important to me, I'll go to the end of the earth for it and that can be for anything but of course music is my first love so I'm very passionate about stuff like that and if I believe in a record enough, then I'll do anything. We didn't leave his house until 4am but it was worth it because now it's my favorite song on the album."

Rihanna sounds like a strong-willed woman!

Photos by INF