Just The Beginning

In an era where precocious youth is an increasing constant within the charts, Rita Ora's age still comes as a shock. In 2012, she managed to reach the top of the UK charts on three separate occasions – more than any other artist that year. Even prior to the release of her breakthrough debut album, Ora, she'd already earned the respect of personalities like Jay-Z (who signed her to his label Roc Nation). She's only 22.

“It's pretty interesting,” she says of the world she's found herself in over the past 12 months. “I mean, meeting someone like Jay-Z for the first time... It's hard not to feel a little starstruck. Except, he's nothing like Jay-Z, you know? He's just Jay. He's very sweet and humble and lovely. He's very down to earth and not at all like what you would expect him to be like. The whole experience has been very interesting.

“To be honest, I never think about the celebrity stuff much. You know, I just go with the flow. I mean, my success has totally changed my life, it's true. I can't exactly just go to McDonald's whenever I feel like it anymore. I just try to go with the flow of it all, though. I don't really think of myself as a celebrity. I think of myself as a musician who writes popular music.”

She doesn't sound 22. There's a practised bluster and wit to her speech. Her words and character alike arrive lightly glossed. Initially, one's tempted to ascribe such detachment to a superficial disposition. Except to do so would be to misconstrue caution as identity. Ora isn't a flakey starlet. She's simply a post-adolescent who largely grew up (and is growing up) in the glasshouse that is the UK media environment.

While mainstream recognition proper eluded her until last year, Ora's no stranger to public exposure. Age 15, she appeared on Craig David's Awkward in 2007 (and repeated the trick a year later with David's 2008 single, Where's Your Love). In 2009, she made cameo appearances in videos for Jay-Z (Young Forever) and Drake (Over). One can understand why she would be a little guarded.

“You know, it's always that thing when you talk about a pop star of glitzy lights and being on stage; of being all shiny and plastic, smiling all the time and looking like you're a Colgate advert. And it's not at all like that. There's so much stuff that the public – not saying that they should know, but – don't know about the journey someone has to take to get to that point.

“It doesn't irritate me. I just feel that people should give people more time. You know, it's hard not to judge when we're in your face all the time – but it's equally hard to judge when you don't know who that person is yet. I love being a pop star. I just don't particularly like the stereotype of what many people think it means to be a pop star. In my head, I see myself as a musician, first and foremost.”

There's a feeling that Ora has never quite been allowed to act her age. Within the world that she's entered into, there isn't really much room for a 22-year-old singer-songwriter. Female pop stars are viewed by commentators as either brainless starlets shaped by svengalis or ruthless, calculating businesswomen plotting their careers from the outset. An easy-going girl in her early-20s doesn't really fit with the mythology.

“In all honesty... I'm not going to lie to you, I know this will probably sound cheesy as shit, but I never for a second thought of doing anything but music with my life,” Ora admits – seemingly on the cusp of maintaining the 'calculating businesswoman' archetype. “You know, I always thought I'd figure it out. The idea of settling and doing something else for a living just never even occurred to me.”

Except, that's largely where Ora seems make the most sense. There are fragments of her backstory that seem to play into the standard archetypes but her career only really comes together when you think of it as the path of young musician taking advantage of opportunity. She's not trying to be, as many have suggested, Britain's Rihanna. Really, she's not trying to be anything in particular. Just experimenting.  

“When I first started out, I was just writing songs. I was just experimenting with myself, you know. A whole bunch of different genres; just experimenting with music. I didn't really know where it would take me. I just wanted to make songs. Whatever I felt like that day, I would do that. I still try not to think that far ahead. I just don't ever want to stop releasing music.

“Like, I don't focus on stuff like, 'Oh, I have to break America' or 'I have to tour Australia'. I don't pay attention to that sort of thing. I just try and make my music and let it take me where it will take me. Again, it's a go with the flow sort of thing. I mean, it's obviously great when that sort of stuff comes through, but I'm not going to let it define my life, you know?”

Nowhere is this more evident than in the pop star's immediate response to her own success. Ora does a remarkable job of projecting a cool, professional demeanour in conversation. She almost always maintains a realistic and reasoned outlook on her career. However, ask her about the experience of discovering her chart successes last year – and you get a glimpse of a very different Ora. The actual Rita Ora, one feels.

“Oh my God. It's the best feeling in the world. When my first single with DJ Fresh, Hot Right Now, went to number one, I was just like... 'No. No.' When I heard my second single, How We Do, went to number one, I was like 'No... No!'” she laughs. “And, when my third single, RIP, went to number one, I was just like 'No! NO!' It was like the coolest feeling ever. Honestly, I just don't know what to say.

“I'm really just happy people connected with me at all. You know, actually wanted to jump on this crazy party bus with Rita,” she smiles. “It's humbling.”

Rita Ora will be playing the following dates:

Friday 1 March - Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 2 March - Future Music Festival, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 3 March - Future Music Festival, Perth WA
Wednesday 6 March - The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Friday 8 March - Good Life Festival, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 9 March - Future Music Festival, Sydney NSW
Sunday 10 March - Future Music Festival, Melbourne VIC
Monday 11 March - Future Music Festival, Adelaide SA