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Rihanna Named Most-Streamed Woman On Spotify, Not Feuding With Beyonce Since It’s ‘Just Not What I Wake Up To’ RiRi Claims [Video]

By Maat van Uitert
Published on: 14:07 PST, Mar 17, 2016

Rihanna, Ariana Grande, and Beyonce are the most-streamed female singers on Spotify, the streaming service revealed to celebrate Women’s History Month. Although Beyonce has yet to release a new album, the singer did release a surprise single, the controversial “Formation,” while Rihanna recently dropped her much-anticipated eighth studio album, Anti, to critical acclaim.

The simultaneous release of “Formation” and Anti spurred rumors that the two artists are feuding, but Rihanna put the rumors to bed once and for all in an interview with Vogue. The two women have been compared and pitted against each other since each rose to stardom, but while there’s no doubt that both singers are two of the top recording artists in the music industry, the reality is that there’s absolutely no rivalry between Beyonce and Rihanna, the “Work” singer revealed.

Blaming the entire controversy on the media, Rihanna told Vogue that “[people] just get so excited to feast on something that’s negative. Something that’s competitive. Something that’s, you know, a rivalry.” As soon as Rihanna arrived on the music scene, rumors surfaced that she was having an affair with Beyonce’s husband, Jay Z, rumors that, to this day, follow Rihanna as her career continues to explode.

In fact, the gossip is not true, as revealed by her one-time publicist, Jonathan Hay, who claimed he started the rumor out of “desperation.” Confessing that he spread the rumor that Rihanna was sleeping with Jay Z, Hay revealed on Inside Edition that it was a “PR stunt that I did…out of desperation to help break ‘Pon de Replay,'” and there is no truth to the lie.

About the gossip, Jonathan agreed it “was reckless,” adding that he started the rumor because he “didn’t think it was going to work. I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick.”

But even though people try to drag her down, Rihanna explained that it is “just not what I wake up to.” Instead, Rihanna revealed that she concentrates on herself and does not compare herself to Beyonce because “I can only do me,” adding that she has something that Beyonce lacks: “nobody else is going to be able to do that.”

However, despite her success, there are still people who don’t believe Rihanna is anything more than a flash in the pan. Popular talk show host Wendy Williams weighed in on the controversy surrounding Rihanna and Beyonce, claiming that Rihanna will never be the cultural icon and reach the heights of Beyonce.

On her show, Williams explained that “Rihanna will not be a legend. Nope!,” adding that “Beyonce will do her residency in Vegas at 55-years-old and you will go see her.” Rihanna, however will never be as successful, and according to Williams “Rihanna will attempt to do it but as soon as she get up there and says the B word better have my money…”

“Rihanna is good for right now,” Williams concluded, adding that the Barbadian singer is “not a legend. Nor will she be,” unlike Beyonce. But, despite Wendy’s criticism, Rihanna is still proud of Anti, confessing to Vogue that the album “might not be some automatic record that will be Top 40…[b]ut I felt like I earned the right to do that now.”

In the interview, Rihanna also gushed about working with artists like Drake and Sir Paul McCartney, with whom Rihanna collaborated on “FourFiveSeconds.” Rihanna revealed that she was shocked she got to work with Sir Paul, who is so humble that [i]t’s almost like no one ever told him about his success, according to Rihanna.

What do you think? Is there a rivalry between Beyonce and Rihanna? Leave a comment below!

[Photo by: Ian Gavan/Getty Images]

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