Coldplay and Rihanna might not be two names one naturally hears together, but Chris Martin had a different idea. Jay-Z's good friend says he had the Bajan star in mind when he wrote a track on his band's upcoming album Xyloto, which hits shelves on October 25.

"In a dream scenario, we had a song that I'd secretly kind of written to see if Rihanna would want to sing it," Martin told MTV News. "And then the rest of the band wanted to keep it, so we came up with the idea of asking her to sing it with us, and, to our great surprise, she said OK."

Apparently the collaboration's result was more than just satisfactory.

"Well, her bit on our record is my favorite bit ... when the song came out, it sort of asked for her to be on it," Martin said. "I think at this point, we have nothing to lose, and so we've been trying some new things and trying to break down the perceived boundaries between different types of music because from where we're sitting, it seems like you can try and sound any way you like nowadays. You don't have to be in a rock box or a hip-hop box or a pop box, and I think it's fun when you embrace that idea."

(Photos from left: Ben Hider/PictureGroup, M Vaudrey/PictureGroup)