Rihanna has told how the events of the past year have made her grow up and become "fearless".

Back on track: Rihanna

The 21-year-old Umbrella star was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in February this year and has channelled her experiences into new album Rated R.

Asked how she has changed in the last year, Rihanna said: "I definitely grew up, my outlook on life in general, I look at things differently."

Speaking about the album, she said: "It definitely reflects the growth and just different emotions and moods that I've been through.

"It really just tells stories - it's the most personal album I have to date, definitely the most sincere, but very fearless and edgy. It's dark, the lyrics are kind of risque at time."

The Barbadian singer recently spoke out about February's attack in a series of intimate interviews.

She said: "I never spoke about it before so it was definitely a great burden off my chest. It was a release.

"I wanted to speak about so that I didn't have to keep speaking about it and so that I could move on and speak about things that I love, like my music."

A new single, Russian Roulette, will showcase the album as part of an exclusive gig for Nokia at a secret London location on November 16 and hopes young people will be inspired by her new album.

She said: "Just my whole thing when I was making my album was I just wanted to be myself as much as possible and I have my own attitude, I have my own taste and I wanted to connect with that because it's unique.

"Everyone is different and they have their own thing, so my whole message to young people is just be yourself don't be scared to do that, the best you can be is you."

Rihanna will also perform on The X Factor later this month.

She said: "X Factor is a great show. There are, of course, a lot of viewers so I get to reach a lot of my fans while performing one time at the X Factor.

"It's always fun doing shows like that but the X Factor is such a prestigious show, it's going to be exciting to do it."

The video for her new single is being released tomorrow.

Rihanna said: "It's kind of twisted but it's going to make people think.

"There's a great message and story behind it. Russian Roulette is all about a fear, whether it be fear of love or a fear of getting hurt, whether it be emotionally or physically.

"There are all these different fears and nightmares that people have and we reflect all that in the video but it always goes back to the table of Russian Roulette."

:: Rihanna is set to perform tracks from her new album, Rated R, exclusively for Nokia at a secret London location on November 16.

Fans can register at www.h.com/rihanna to view the live stream of Rihanna's album.

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