As Rihanna revealed to the world on Monday, Britney Spears is featured on a remix of the Barbadian pop star’s current single, “S&M.” Earlier this month, Rihanna had asked her Twitter followers who they’d like her to collaborate with most, and Ms. Femme Fatale proved a popular candidate. But could Britney’s guest shot really have come together that quickly, or was this pop pairing in the works for a while?

“It’s very strange. Britney never does features. It was really amazing that she really wanted to be part of this song,” Rihanna told Elvis Duran of New York’s Z100. “She really liked the song to begin with, but it was a different story when she had to sing it, and she really wanted to be a part of it. It made it really, really special, because you never see two pop female artists doing songs together anymore.”

Remember how well it worked out for Britney when she brought Madonna aboard for “Me Against The Music”? The first single from 2003’s In The Zone stalled at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. (The remix from Peter Rauhofer remains amazing.)

Still, these special-guest remixes can pay off. Katy Perry’s “E.T.” remix featuring Kanye West nabbed her a fourth #1 single from Teenage Dream, so perhaps an assist from Spears is the gentle prodding “S&M” needs to whip up a third chart topper from Loud. That is, if Billboard counts airplay and downloads of the new remix toward Rihanna’s current Hot 100 entry, which sits behind “E.T.” at at #2. (UPDATE 4/13: Confirmed via Billboard’s Keith Caulfield, sales/airplay/streams of remixes count toward a song’s rank.)

Though some aren’t fond of the new “S&M,” I like it, like it:

Purchase Rihanna featuring Britney Spears – “S&M (Remix)” via iTunes.