• “Diamonds,” atop R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs for an 11th week, leads Radio Songs for a third week in the United States. After being No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 3 weeks, the track remains at No. 2 for a second week.

• When Oprah Winphrey was asked who was the toughest Next Chapter interview this year or who surprised her, she said: “Interestingly enough, the person who most surprised me the most was Rihanna. She brought one thousand percent of her. You could tell that she came ready. She was open to anything. But I don’t do an interview if someone tells me I can’t ask a certain question. My policy is, I can ask any question, you can tell me you won’t answer it, but you have to tell me that on camera. I really didn’t know that much about her. I just thought she was so thoughtful and so smart. I didn’t know that she was or wasn’t, I only knew her from her music.” Click here to watch her interview again.

• Rihanna’s next movie title has been changed to “This Is The End” (previously called “The End Of The World”). Rihanna, who will play herself on the movie, is not featured on the first trailer.

• Click here to watch a cute video that Rihanna sent to a school in Dublin, Ireland.

• Members of Barrington High School created an inspiring video highlighting the volunteer and philanthropic efforts of BHS students that won a nation-wide contest sponsored by pop-star Rihanna. The school beat out 52 other entries. The grand prize: A visit from the singer herself. Read more.

• In case you haven’t noticed, the 7th and last Rihanna7.com challenge is available. We’re gonna miss it!

If anyone can take the raunchy R&B hit “Pony” and make it all her own, it’s probably Rihanna. And that’s one of the reasons why the man behind the song, Ginuwine, gave the singer the OK to sample it on “Jump,” one of the tracks set to appear on her November 19 album release, Unapologetic.

“You know what? My management told me she wanted to use it, and Rihanna, I’m a fan of hers and I love what she’s doing. Anytime someone uses anything that I’ve done in the past, that’s just one of those things where the respect is there and I can appreciate that and it was a great song and still is,” he told MTV News of Rih’s usage of the defining ’90s jam. “It’s one of the most appreciated songs when I do my shows, that’s one of the songs that gets the most reaction, and for her doing it, I’m appreciative. I thank her for it and hopefully it does well for her.”

With NSFW lyrics that play up Ginuwine’s prowess as a lover (Spoiler alert: He’s not singing about a baby horse), it comes as no surprise that Rihanna would put her gender-bending spin on the track’s infamous chorus. “That’s one of those songs you really can’t mess up anyway. When I heard that she wanted to do it I immediately said ‘OK.’ I signed onboard.

“Well I think it was a universal type song anyway, but you can just flip it just like I know she did it,” he continued. “If anybody in the business can capture the spirit of ‘Pony,’ it would have to be Rihanna. I’m anxious to hear what she’s done to it and at the same time appreciative of her to consider that song from me. Hopefully it does a wonderful job for her like it did for me.”

Released in 1996, the track defines producer Timbaland’s style with a hip-hop beat, Auto-Tuned vocal samples and unexpected glitches; the tune was mid-’90s ear candy. All these years later, it endures, not only as a sample on the Rihanna track, but also as one of the more memorable dance sequences from “Magic Mike.”

“Before that came out, it was just one of those shifts in music that happen when Timbaland came out with that sound. It gave R&B that jolt it needed. It was just a shift in music… that was just one of those songs that represented that in music. Now, it’s been able to withstand the test of time that when you hear it, it takes you back to where you were when you first heard it,” Ginuwine said of the track’s 2012 resurgence.

“You got to embrace it! You can’t be a stickler… especially when an artist like Rihanna wants to use it,” he added. “You have to allow her to revamp it and do her thing.”

With Rihanna a week away from her album release, it seems now would be as good a time as any for her to take the stage with the singer — an idea he’s more than willing to execute.

“That would be amazing! Like I said, I’m a big fan of hers and she’s definitely a beautiful young lady and I’ve always watched her and watched her do her thing. So hopefully, one day, it will happen and if it don’t that’s cool too,” he said. “I’m hoping it does well for her and just to continue the legacy of ‘Pony.’ It’s one of those songs that people are starting to take another notice to. It’s one of those songs that changed music anyways, so shout out to Timbaland and myself and hopefully people will continue to use it, ’cause it’s definitely one of those songs that will get the party jumping.”

Do you think Rihanna can put the proper “flip” on “Pony”? Give us your thoughts in the comments!

Rihanna is due to release her seventh album ‘Unapologetic’ on November 19 and Sandé recently revealed that she had penned a song that will be included on the Deluxe version.

Speaking to the Daily Record, the Scottish singer has now said that the ‘Umbrella’ star called her a “poet” after hearing the track. She said:

“I wrote for Rihanna’s new album that’s coming out soon. I sent songs to Stargate in New York who work with Rihanna and they asked me to finish the song for her. I met her in LA and she told me how much the song meant to her. It was great to hear that there was an emotional connection. She said, ‘I don’t know what you have been through but you are a poet and this song has really moved me’. Hearing that from Rihanna was pretty amazing.”

The ‘Next To Me’ singer added: “It moved her a lot because it is about what you see of Rihanna on TV being half of who she is. There is a lot more you don’t understand. Lyrically, I’m proud of the song and can’t wait to hear what she has done with it. I haven’t heard it yet. I’m going to have to go buy it to hear it.”

Don’t forget to pre-order the album now. Available in Standard edition and Deluxe edition which features “Half Of Me” as a bonus track.

Rihanna has also prepared a VERY special edition of the album. The Rihannanow.com exclusive Unapologetic deluxe box sets include a diamond bracelet, Unapologetic tee-shirt, stickers, the fan mosaic poster and a deluxe CD! Check out both the Deluxe & Executive Platinum box sets here.

Credit: PressParty

Calvin Harris has confessed that teaming up with Rihanna for her Vodafone Big Top 40 number one single “We Found Love” was the best decision he ever made for his career. Calvin admitted that the track helped increase his popularity with the American audience:

“It changed absolutely everything. Career-wise it was the best thing that could ever have happened. For example, in America my tune ‘Feel So Close’ came out about three months before. But when ‘We Found Love’ came out, the radio started playing ‘Feel So Close’ like it was the single after. Then that did really well, it charted well and sold a lot of copies.”

Ke$ha has confirmed that her new album “Warrior” does not feature a collaboration with Rihanna, but admitted that she “loves” her. Last month, Ke$ha sparked rumours that she had collaborated with the RiRi star after posting a cryptic picture of a lady holding the star’s logo on Twitter. But during an interview with Capital FM, Ke$ha denied that she had recorded a song with Rihanna – but did acknowledge the influence the star had made on her career:

“Yeah, I love her. I toured with her a while ago, she’s kind of a mentor to me at the beginning of my career. So absolutely I love her and I have all the respect in the world for her. But I didn’t unfortunately do it on this record.”

“She couldn’t have been more lovely, she’s a real laugh. We all hit it off and had so much fun. She’s truly original. She portrays what she wants to portray through her clothes, and it changes all the time. And that’s something I try to do.”

Nicola stars in the fashion series alongside Rihanna’s stylist Lysa Cooper and top designer Henry Holland, mentoring 12 design hopefuls selected by Rihanna who also acts as Executive Producer.

Styled To Rock starts on 14 August, Sky Living HD, 9pm.

“[It] didn’t take a lot of work [to lip-synch to her song],” he confessed to MTV News at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “But I do like Rihanna.”

In fact, his biggest confession about his connection to the singer came next. It seems the two were thisclose to working together on her 2011 “We Found Love” video. As the story goes, before male model Dudley O’Shaughnessy landed the role as Ri’s troubled leading man, Franco had the opportunity to be cast as one-half of that rocky romance.

“She actually asked me to be in that video, the one with the relationship that gets crazy,” he dished. “I couldn’t do it. But, I guess, I hope that that means there’s mutual love between us.”

Well, apparently these two are getting a second chance to work together, and this time it’s on the big screen. Franco teased that Rihanna may appear in pal Seth Rogen’s flick “The Apocalypse,” which follows a slew of celebs playing themselves. They’re partying at Franco’s house when they learn the apocalypse is coming.

“I think she’s gonna be in the new movie that I’m doing, Seth Rogen’s directorial debut,” he shared. “I think she has a little part in that.”

• Rihanna “We Found Love” music video is nominated for 2 MTV Video Music Awards 2012: Best Female Video & Best Pop Video. Vote here! Japanese Navy, don’t forget that Rihanna will be there in April and August!

• Katy Perry has recently mentioned a possible collaboration with Rihanna: “We’ve collaborated on a lot of things, but just not songs yet. It’s one of those things that’s got so much build up that we have to deliver. I want it to be like that Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin song ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,’ not ‘Beautiful Liar.’ But I definitely want to do something that is so iconic. [Rihanna's] kind of busy too. We’re both busy but we planted the seed two years ago. How disappointed would you be if that song came out and it’s no good? Sometimes you have to wait for greatness.” Katy has also talked about Battleship and “We Found Love” — read here. She was also asked to sing a little bit of “We Found Love”, click here to watch.

• To ready for her role as Raikes in Battleship, Rihanna had to go through some tough military training. Check out the video below and look for the movie in theaters near you this spring 2012: