Rihanna rocks with Coldplay on the enchanting “Princess of China,” a cut off the British band’s new album Mylo Xyloto, in stores October 24.
The pop starlet imagines a fairy tale ending to a romance while dueting with frontman Chris Martin on the synth-heavy production. “I could have been a princess, you’d be a king/ Could have had a castle and worn a ring, but no, you let me go,” sings a disappointed RiRi before chanting the lingering hook.
“We had this song called ‘Princess of China’ about two years ago that I always was secretly wanting to offer to Rihanna to sing,” Martin Rolling Stone. “The sweep of the album came together and this song really fit as a sort of damaged loved song, and so after about six months of not feeling brave enough, we finally made contact with her and asked if she’d sing on it.”
Martin, who proposed the collaboration to Rihanna at his New Year’s show in Las Vegas, calls her vocals “by far the best bit of singing on the album.”