Saturday, 6 September 2014

Rita Ora talks Calvin Harris feud, career control + image...

In a new interview with the UK’s Evening Standard paper, Rita Ora tells the interviewer that they can ask “what the f*ck they like.” She doesn’t “give two sh*ts about anyone’s opinion. This is who she is. Eat it.” 

Rita may not care about opinions, but she certainly loves to serve herself up as food for the paps rocking weird outfits and changing them five times a day. No one does this unless they want to be talked about consistently. She's more socialite than singer, often known more for the men she dates than the actual music. I guess I can eat that up too.

In the interview, she slightly addresses the bad blood over her and Calvin’s bitter breakup which lead to him taking back songs he produced for her new album. She also talks about being more in control of her career. Check out some excerpts below. 

On Beyoncé & Prince (random name-dropping): 
“I was talking to Beyoncé the other day. Prince gave me some great advice but he wouldn’t let me steal any of his clothes. He’s surreal. He walks around in this floating prance.”
On fame:
“It’s pretty lonely sometimes. It goes from being hectic, and then suddenly you’re in a hotel room, alone and all of a sudden it’s silence — and you’re like. ‘Hello? Helloooo?’”
On being more in control:
“When I started I was only 17. I was overwhelmed with the power of men in the industry and the thinking that you have to fulfil somebody’s image. Obviously I love my record label. [My first album] was an amazing success but I wasn’t completely satisfied because I’d listened to a lot of men. I accepted tracks [they wanted] because, you know, it was a ‘legendary writer’ or something. This time, I feel more comfortable in my skin. I’m 23 and I’ve experienced a bit more. I’ve actually had fights about tracks that were not being approved by the label. Now I’m like, ‘I don’t care who wrote it’. And when someone says, ‘no this isn’t right,’ I say, ‘no this is f*cking right because it’s my album. That’s me being brutally honest.”
On the Calvin Harris feud:
“Obviously the obvious happened. We broke up. But ‘I’ll Never Let You Down’ was made in such an honest space, even after we went our separate ways. It still represents what I was doing when I created it with him. It was a lovely summer song. It was the first time I’d written something really honest without anybody else’s input. Just his. It felt really liberating. But the songs that we did together didn’t make sense musically with the album because we did them a while ago.”
On being image conscious:
“There are bigger queens in the selfie world than me but I’m up there. You get to control your image. You take it out of other people’s hands. That’s why social media is amazing too. I put up the finger to other people’s opinions on my life: I love going out.”
On being a feminist “in the Beyoncé mould”:
“That’s the perfect description. I am a woman, I’m outspoken and I support other females. I love what men do in the world but women have equal power.” (source)
Thoughts?