Rita Ora is fresh off the release of her latest single, “Ask & You Shall Receive,” and to celebrate, the pop star sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss her next musical era.
“The song I got it sent to me in my email from RAYE, who was a great friend of mine,” she explained. “She’s also another British pop sensation, and I love her. I’ve known her for a very long time as a songwriter and as an artist, and she came on tour with me back in 2017 sent me the song, and I loved it. Sometimes it’s not that deep. My third record, You & I was very deep and emotional. It was about my personal life changing, I got married and really wanted to share a story with the world. Well, with this one, I was like, you know what? Let’s just put out great things that feel good, you know? The sun is out. I’m always about the sunshine. Everything with my music has been super positive. If you’ve followed me for a decade-plus, I’ve always tried to integrate a community and my fan base, and everyone comes the show and just has a good time.”
She continued, “This record is really just about my girls, my vibes, everyone feeling good. So, with the music video and all the visuals, I really wanted to create a world that felt a bit sort of uncomfortably comfortable. […] I just wanted to try and challenge myself and do things a bit more experimental with the music and the beats and everything.”
Ora continued that “Ask & You Shall Receive” is indicative of an album that she’s currently working on. “This album is something I’m actually really excited about,” she shared. “I’m spending the rest of the year making it. I’m feeling super, super inspired creatively, just having that essence of feeling a bit like not everything is perfect, which was kind of my motive with this. Everything’s just a bit left like that. Sonically, feeling a bit darker, a bit more spicy, a bit more aggressive, just getting in my like, uncomfortable era.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Rita Ora above.
