After a six-year gap between her first two albums, Rita Ora can’t wait for her third. Music Week joins the star in lockdown to find out how isolation is inspiring her latest bid to redefine pop...
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ita Ora is in treacherous territory when she answers Music Week’s call. The video for her new single How To Be Lonely has just dropped and we find her in what’s often known as a no-go zone in pop: the comments section. But the wave of YouTube feedback for the video – in which the singer hangs with a real-life bear and gets covered in gold, egg yolk and ants – is overwhelmingly positive. “They’re saying, ‘Thank you Rita’ and things like, ‘In this time of need, How To Be Lonely is so helpful,’” begins the singer, happily reeling off the messages. “People are saying it’s like a movie and I’ve never done a video like that before. I wanted to push myself; I just thought it was time, with where I’m at in life. Let’s make a fucking movie!”
Now pushing the five million views barrier, the glossily surreal How To Be Lonely video helps illustrate what has to be one of the weirdest pop coincidences of 2020 so far. Ora’s song was conceived to offer solace in solitude, and sure enough it happened to drop shortly before people around the world were forced into isolation by a pandemic. Atlantic and First Access Entertainment – Ora’s team since she parted ways with Roc Nation in 2016 – surely couldn’t have planned it if they’d tried, which of course they didn’t.
“We were on the verge of releasing it just as the magnitude of this pandemic became clear, but like the rest of the music industry, we have had to change many of the plans we had around the release, which was very challenging. It’s very doubtful the album will come out this year,” says First Access CEO Sarah Stennett, who’s managed Ora since advising her not to enter Eurovision as a 17-year-old.
“I didn’t have a plan for it, but I knew I wanted to put it out, so that’s what we’ve done. I have a crazy, amazing, exciting direction for my third album. I want to turn people on their heads, turn things around 360° and introduce some live instrumentation, experiment sonically, work with people I’ve never worked with before and do some more soulful tracks.”
“I’m turning into a nerd, on my
She’s poker-faced when we ask who she’s working with, but the album that follows 2012’s chart-topping Ora (378,658 sales) and 2018’s Phoenix (182,412) is taking shape as a bedroom project. Regular viewers of The One Show may have caught a grainy, FaceTime glimpse of Ora’s set-up during a recent video interview. These days, all she needs is a laptop and a mic stand. “I’ve learned to be patient, and that you can invite as many people as you’d like into the room to achieve what you want,” she says. “I’ve been playing with synths a lot. I’ve learned a lot about the actual systems, using Logic and I’m kind of turning into a nerd, I love it!” Can it be true, Rita Ora, a studio geek?
laptop, plugging in my microphone and figuring it all out. We’ll see if I’m any good!”
“It feels weird,” Ora says. “That’s the only word I can use to explain it. It’s exciting, but then it’s almost like, ‘It’s OK, whatever happens.’ It’s bad to say the single is not my main concern, but it’s not my only concern. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it but it’s still my baby. I just hope it does anything it can to help people through this.”
With a rather modest sales tally of 38,749 (OCC), it hasn’t yet matched up to a monster track record that, in 2018, saw Ora break Shirley Bassey and Petula Clarke’s record to become the British female with the most Top 10s in history. Ora has 13 (including two million-sellers), and the 14th surely isn’t far away. How To Be Lonely, a Lewis Capaldi co-write, has been a mainstay in the upper reaches of the airplay chart and is turning into a different kind of hit for Rita Ora. The singer, who will turn 30 in November, sees it as the start of a new chapter. “I was already in this headspace of making my third album and this song was like a curveball,” she says, her voice fizzing with the purpose of a pop superpower back in action.
20 | Music Week 04.05.20
“Yeah definitely!” she answers, breaking into an almighty laugh. “I’m on my laptop, plugging in my microphone and figuring it all out, it’s kind of amazing. I’ve always worked in the studio, so it’s really interesting, I don’t know how good I am at it, but we’ll see…”
While Ora works on new music in the countryside, the promo trail continues. She took part in BBC Radio 1’s Stay At Home Live Lounge, performed at Warner Music’s livestreamed Play On festival and has just released a cover of Eric Clapton’s Change The World. Ora has also been volunteering and launched a Covid-19 relief fund. Her mother is a psychiatrist for the NHS (and appeared alongside her on The One Show), which means the crisis is having a profound impact.
“I’ve learned a lot about coming into my own emotions and I’m writing really good songs,” says Ora, who’s used to battling loneliness on tour. “I’m trying to be productive and give people something to distract themselves with.” And when the time comes to release her record and get back on the road again, Ora will be ready. “This has put a lot of things into perspective for people and I think there’ll be a lot more appreciation of things when we get back into hopefully normal life,” she says.
“I’ve been in this industry for 10 years, so I’ve built a thick skin. Trying to meet expectations never goes to plan; you’re always going to get disappointed. So I’ve been focusing on my own path, which is making amazing pop music, experimenting and creating a new sound, being sonically proud.” And so we leave Rita Ora to it, in isolation, in the middle of writing what promises to be her most compelling chapter yet.
Golden touch: Rita Ora in the How To Be Lonely video
“I’ve worked my arse off to get to this point,” she finishes. “I can’t wait to carry on…”
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