Zendaya: Chris Brown Made Me Do Better

Chris Brown pushed Zendaya in a good way when it came time to get in the studio for her song "Something New" -- and despite his violent past, she says he's a great mentor.

Zendaya got chatty with our photog outside Jazmine Sullivan's show Thursday night in Hollywood ... explaining why there's a big diff between Chris the artist today, and the guy who did jail time.

Check out Z's take ... it says a ton about the kinda respect Chris gets in the biz.