

On July 10, 2012, British singer and producer Labrinth revealed to Capital FM that he had been working with Rihanna on the album. revealed that he had begun working with Rihanna on the album saying "I’m going in next week for about a week". On July 6, 2012, Def Jam executive No I.D. It was also confirmed that Rihanna worked with Eric Bellinger, Sean Garrett, and Swedish House Mafia for her seventh album. Rihanna and Burns booked three days in a studio in London while Rihanna was performing at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend.

On June 20, 2012, Rihanna began recording her seventh studio album, working with Nicky Romero and Burns. Sia (left) and The-Dream (right) both worked with Rihanna on Unapologetic.

In March 2012, Rihanna revealed that although she had not yet begun recording, she started "working on the new sound" for her seventh studio album. "We Found Love" topped the charts in over 25 countries and sold over 9 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. The album produced six singles including the worldwide hits " We Found Love" and " Where Have You Been". It was a commercial success and reached the top ten in over twenty national charts, including number one on the UK Albums Chart and number three on the US Billboard 200. Talk That Talk received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics upon its release. The album was rooted in pop, dance and R&B but also incorporated a variety of other musical genres such as hip hop, electro house, dancehall, and dubstep, a genre which was prominent on her fourth studio album Rated R (2009). In November 2011, Rihanna released her sixth studio album Talk That Talk. To further promote the album, Rihanna embarked on her fourth worldwide concert tour, entitled the Diamonds World Tour. Prior to its release, Rihanna promoted the album with the 777 Tour which consisted of a seven-date promotional tour in which she performed seven concerts each in a different city in North America and Europe in seven days. The former peaked at number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 where it became Rihanna's twelfth number one song, tying her with Madonna and The Supremes for fourth most number one songs in the history of the chart. The album produced seven singles including the international hits " Diamonds" and " Stay". As of December 2014, Unapologetic has sold over four million copies worldwide. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), it was the ninth global best-selling album of 2012 with sales of 2.3 million copies. The album also became the singer's third, fourth, and fifth consecutive number one album in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland, respectively. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, becoming Rihanna's first number one album on the chart and best-selling debut week of her career. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2014 ceremony, while " Stay" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Unapologetic received generally mixed reviews from critics, with some reviewers describing its music as interesting, while others criticized its weak lyrical content and rushed nature. Unapologetic is primarily a pop, synth-pop and R&B record that incorporates elements of hip hop, EDM, dubstep and reggae in its production, similar to the sound of her previous albums Talk That Talk (2011) and Rated R (2009). As executive producer, Rihanna enlisted previous collaborators The-Dream, David Guetta, Chase & Status, and Stargate to work alongside new collaborators such as Parker Ighile, Mike Will Made-It, and Labrinth. It was recorded between June and November 2012, during promotion of her sixth album, Talk That Talk (2011). It was released on 19 November 2012 by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. Unapologetic is the seventh studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna.
