Rihanna enjoyed being 'one of the boys' as a youngster.

The songstress is famed for her risqué stage routines, controversial dance moves and highly-sexed lyrics.

Despite her femme fatale image now, Rihanna was a tomboy growing up and surrounded herself with male friends.

The 23-year-old Barbadian star says her best female friend changed her perspective.

' was one of the boys. I never saw the need for having girl friends until I met Melissa [Forde]. Melissa taught me how to be a girl,' she told the UK edition of Vogue.

Rihanna has discussed her favourite school subject. The international superstar says although she loved English lessons, she never really understood their significance.

' was really interested in grammar, like memorising tenses and conjunctions, and all that, but at school I was like, 'Why do we have to learn English when we speak the language?'' she quipped.