Rihanna hits back at Shaggy’s claims that he was asked to ‘audition’ for her new album

This could be the beginning of a beautiful feud

There may be a new pop feud brewing between two unlikely sources.

Although he may protest that it wasn’t him (badum tsssh), you can blame Shaggy for starting this one.

The Jamaican singer hit the headlines earlier this week after he claimed that he was asked to ‘audition’ for a spot on Rihanna’s forthcoming new album.

He told The Daily Star: “They approached me for the Rihanna project, yeah.

“There’s a lot of great people involved but for me I didn’t need to audition to be on the record, I’ll leave that to younger guys. But from what I hear it should be good.”

Now, however, Rihanna’s camp has denied his claims. A rep told Jamaican radio station Irie FM: “We are working on an album, not a talent show – so why would she [Rihanna] require Shaggy or any other artist to audition?”

They added: “After Rihanna had already gathered all the material for the album, Shaggy contacted her asking to be a part of the album. She explained to him that the album was pretty much completed and they were just working on mixing, mastering and deciding which songs to actually use.

“However, she invited him to submit some materials so she could see if it fits with the flow of the album. That was by no means asking for an audition, it was more going out of her way to get him on the album.”

The album, unofficially titled ‘R9’, is allegedly finished and is said to be dancehall/reggae-inspired – although a release date is still TBC.