Chris Brown Talks Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and New Album 'X' with Ryan Seacrest

Chris Brown has had his fair share of trouble in the past, but he’s turning a new page. On Tuesday, the 23-year-old singer stopped by Ryan Seacrest’s studio for a candid conversation about his personal and professional life. Nothing was off limits—from reuniting with Rihanna (“I’m eternally grateful and thankful”) to his past mistakes (“I can’t go around blaming”) to his fight with a valet over $10 to why he deleted his Instagram page.

He also shared details about his upcoming sixth album X and getting in the studio with Jennifer Lopez.

“Fine China,” the first single off X, drops April 1.

On his new album X: “The direction I wanted to go for this album was the same base I went for the first album. I had a humble mindstate of going in the studio with any producer, any writer, and trying to make a great project. I kinda put the Quincy Jones formula on it, put all of the different producers locked into one studio, and just try to make a great project.”

On why he named the album X: “I’ll be 24 when the album comes out, so X is the 24th letter in the alphabet. It also means the roman numeral for X. I’ve been doing this for 10 years now. My birthday is 5/5/89, five and five is 10.”

On working with Jennifer Lopez: “We actually are collaborating. I’m trying to get her on my album, I have a couple songs that would be incredible for her to feature on. But as for now, I’m just in the studio writing for her album and collaborating on new stuff and trying to give her some party music and fun stuff.”

On winning back fans: “People are entitled to their opinions. I can’t go around blaming. It’s all about my responsibility and me growing up as a man. So I think now that I’m becoming older, and trying to mature in this life under the public eye at all times, I have to focus on doing the right thing and being more of a humble individual.”

On his past mistakes: “I could put that on my age but that would just be making an excuse. I think for me that at age 18, 19 I was capable of writing and producing songs, so I’m also capable of making the right choices. So I think it’s about a learning process now. Being at that young age I can tell you I was arrogant and definitely hotheaded. Everybody has a temper, but for me it was not knowing how to control it when I thought I had the world in my hands.”

On his relationship with Rihanna: “I just tried my best to be the best man I could be over the years and just show her how remorseful and sorry I was for the incident and that time was probably the worst part of my life and being that she has and she’s a wonderful person I’m eternally grateful and thankful.”

On his fight with a valet over $10: “By all means, I’m a great tipper. Ten dollars is not a problem…[it] was five dollar parking at the place…but before we went in, I gave the man $100 dollars. We had two cars. It’s five dollar parking. Okay, do the math. So when we came out he was like, ‘You know what? We need $20 for each car.’ And I said, ‘Sir, I just gave you $100.’ So he was like, ‘No, no we need $10.’ So he was just going around trying to see if he could get more money and I was like, ‘no,’ so by that time it was a situation.”

On Instagram and Twitter: “Both [are a blessing and a curse]…for me now I’m not as hands on as I used to be. I totally deleted my Instagram and I get on Twitter every now and then to touch base with my fans because I love my fans. But sometimes when you’re a young kid and you have impulsive techniques you kind of get like, ‘Arghhh! I can’t stand you.’ People love [Twitter wars], they eat it up, so I’d rather not feed them that.”