All eyes are on Rita Ora. She is Roc Nation’s next big thing and she has an opening gig on Coldplay’s summer tour. The 21-year-old British singer covers Complex’s August/September 2020 issue and talks to the magazine about working with Jay-Z, Rihanna, her rumored relationship with Rob Kardashian, and feeling anxious before shows. “I get nervous before shows and then I’m just like, OK — let’s go,” she explains. “It’s like, you can’t fuck it up now ’cause everybody’s watching you. It’s more of a rush — like an adrenaline high.”
Ora confesses she couldn’t perform on stage wearing heels. So, she prefers trainers. “I’m like a dude,” Rita says, despite ample evidence to the contrary. “Jordans are my favorite. I wear them all the time for shows. I can get girly-girly when I want to, but I can’t perform in heels. I would bust my face open on stage and we don’t want that.”
At age 11 Rita was the girl at the neighborhood youth center who sang ‘Killing Me Softly’ into a counselor’s camera phone. “He told me he knew somebody who knew somebody in the industry or whatever,” she recalls. “I said, ‘OK cool, play them this video.’”
Speaking about her beginnings and signing with Roc Nation, Rita told Complex that, “When I first got signed I was this random girl from London.” “I was thinking my whole world was going to be turned around. I thought I was gonna be on Oprah next week with a new single. Three years later I’m just starting to come out. I wanted to release everything I’d ever recorded, but I was lucky enough to have someone like Jay to say, ‘This isn’t good enough. You have to find yourself.’ It was the best advice he could have given me — to be patient.”
The young star admits she has always loved music. “You can add as much production as you want but if the music is sh*t no one is gonna listen to it,” she says. “It’s important that you know yourself musically. I was always that girl who loved music and thought of music as an escape route.”
Despite all the rumors, Rita confesses that she doesn’t mind the Rihanna comparisons. “I admire Rihanna,” she says. “She works her a** off. She hasn’t had a break and she has given people hit after hit after hit. That work ethic and discipline is hardcore. That’s the kind of shit that I want to do. That I will do.”
Asked about Rob Kardashian and if a long-distance relationship is hard, Rita said that, “I mean, it’s not really a relationship. It’s not that intense. He’s a cool guy. We’re close. We’re good friends. I got his back and he’s got mine. To me, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from — if you’re a good person and you got my back, I got yours. It’s that easy for me.”
Right now, Rita’s more focused on learning all she can from the Roc brain trust. “Jay and Kanye, their minds are on a different level. It’s out of this world how talented they are.” She also insists she’s no longer starstruck around Jay-Z. “I was when I first got signed, knowing what he’s done and the empire he’s created,” she admits. “But he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He made me feel so at ease that I forgot he was Jay for a minute. He turned into this brother figure and an amazing boss.”
Read Rita Ora’s full interview in the August/September 2020 issue of Complex Magazine.
Photos and video courtesy of COMPLEX