Rihanna coming back to Birmingham

Urban superstar Rihanna will return to Birmingham's LG Arena – following her sold-out gig in June – to headline the venue on July 18.

The iconic singer, who is the number one person on Facebook with more than 73 million likes, is bringing her Diamonds World Tour back to the venue.

She has been dominating global charts with Diamonds, the fastest-rising single of her career to date, from her seventh studio album.

Rihanna, a recipient of six Grammy Awards and seven Billboard Music Awards, Rihanna has sold more than 37 million albums and 146 million digital tracks worldwide, and currently holds the record as the top-selling digital artist of all time.

Forbes named her the world's number one social media star and she has enjoyed 11 Hot 100 number one singles and 22 Top 10 singles.

Rihanna has recently acknowledged her relationship with Chris Brown and said she hopes that in five years time she will have a baby.

"Right now, that's just what we want, a great friendship, that's unbreakable. Now that we're adults we can do this right. We got a fresh start and we're thankful for that."

In five years? "I will probably have a kid," but in the short term, she's just praying for a month-long vacation and a break from her hectic touring. Rihanna is serious about Brown.

"You don't have that feeling with everybody so when you have it, you don't want to let go of it," Rihanna said.

"I would definitely say he is the one I have that kind of relationship with."

Rihanna recently courted controversy by sporting a gun tattoo, which she describes as being empowering.

"Everybody wanted to know what was happening in my life. Is she a drug addict? No. Is she an alcoholic? No. Is she a victim? No," Rihanna said. "That's why I got the gun. It was a symbol of strength. I'll never be a victim."

The star is the world's most prolific user of social media and regularly posts pictures of herself, her body and her life online. "Well I Instagram everything about my life, whether it's smoking pot, in a strip club, reading a Bible verse – how crazy, I know – or hanging out with my best friend, who happens to be Chris."

The only person she fears is her mom: "I'm not afraid of any person in this world but her. I'm terrified of her. She called me and reeled me in about two naked pictures Melissa put up on Instagram – a sneak-peek from a photo book she's making about me.

"My mom, she went crazy on me. I was like embarrassed. I felt like I got my ass whupped in front of my class in school! She said, 'This was like a private moment and you're just parading this around.' She humbled me.'"

By Andy Richardson