09:34 13 September 2011
It may have taken him a while to pluck up the courage to ask her, but Coldplay rocker Chris Martin has confirmed that Rihanna will feature on the band's new album.
The Viva La Vida singer, 34, explained to The Sun that while he had bagged the Bajan superstar as a guest vocalist on the new record, asking her still managed to reduce him to a "Hugh Grant-like" rom-com character:
"The album is designed as a whole piece. It has boy and girl lead characters and top of our list for the girl part was Rihanna... but it took a while to pluck up the courage to ask her.
"We did a show in Las Vegas and I met her and said, 'Do you think there's any chance?' I was very Hugh Grant-like and spluttering about it.
"She has such an amazing voice and it's so different to mine. When the vocal happened I thought 'Wow, you sound different' but I think that's also because she was singing a different song to what we are used to hearing from her and it is written by a bloke from Devon."
Rihanna will appear a track titled Princess of China, featured on their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, which is set for release on 24 October.