It was either then or we had to wait for ages. And his kids were there and I really wanted them to be a part of it. And for me – I think with my job, it is all… it’s very attention driven – I wanted to keep it private because my life and my career aren’t.” The wedding was planned “in two to three days, when I was out of cycle, which is what I call it when I’m not in album cycle mode. “Some women like to feel that real special attention that day. Let’s just do it.’ She said she felt freaked out about the thought of having a massive wedding. How did he propose? “Well, honestly, there was no real getting down on one knee. Rita and Taika kept their wedding top secret, only recently confirming the rumours that they’d tied the knot and she intentionally remains elusive about exactly where and when it was, in a bid to keep some of her life private. Does she think that going against the grain has been worth the flipside, the constant judgement and almost obsessive tabloid attention for things unrelated to her work? But with that free-spirited approach – like other more rebellious female artists, such as Madonna, Cher, JLo before her – she has been made to pay a price for not following an expected path shamed for her image, her dating life, for being young and having fun, and her ambition and business savvy woefully underestimated.
Rita says she’s “Always craved security”, yet likes to live her life, “As if there are no rules”. I took a lot of risks because I believed in what I could do with my voice.” Instead, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, whose famous alumni includes Emma Bunton, Amy Winehouse and Billie Piper.Īged 18, she was scouted by representatives from Jay-Z’s record label, but didn’t go stratospheric until the release of Hot Right Now in 2012, which she released independently. It’s what gave me the courage to make music and move away from a more traditional path of getting a degree, which my father really wanted me to do.
And people said, ‘Why can’t you just believe what we’re telling you?’ I’ve never wanted to be told what to believe. My response to what people were telling me was, ‘I don’t think that’s true.’ I was always asking questions. I was always a very opinionated kid and I think some kids found that uncomfortable. Rita wears exaggerated collar ribbon jacket, Maximilian RaynorĪs a child growing up in London, she says, “I never fitted in. So it’s almost like fearing something that isn’t really there.” I’ve always had that pressure of thinking, ‘If I don’t succeed, then will we go back to where we came from?’ I don’t know what that feeling is, because I never actually grew up in Kosovo and life before the war was meant to be good. There was a middle ground of confusion – where my parents could take us shopping one day, but we couldn’t pay this for school the next. We weren’t the richest of the rich, but we weren’t the poorest of the poor. Rita’s insatiable drive, she says, comes from a fear of going back to her life, pre-success, and carries the weight of responsibility for her family, although, “My parents never put the pressure on me my childhood was a happy and amazing one.” The overwhelming need to achieve and protect her family comes from herself, “Some people may not know just how much of a sacrifice I’ve made just to make sure my loved ones are OK.” She concedes, “I always talk about this in my therapy sessions, how insane it is for children that we subconsciously take this upon ourselves. Oh, and she acts as a Unicef Ambassador, too, helping refugee children create a new life.
Earlier this week she was in Liverpool, performing at the Eurovision Song Contest's semi-finals. She has also been a judge on The X Factor, The Masked Singer and The Voice in the UK and Australia, travelled around the world, and is currently between London, LA, Australia and New Zealand. Having previously left Jay-Z’s Roc Nation because they hadn't put out any of her music in three years, Rita signed with Berlin-based music label BMG in February 2022 and now owns all her own masters. She recently co-hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards with Taika, launched tequila brand Próspero, acted in Fifty Shades Of Grey and in the past decade has collaborated with Prince and Ed Sheeran. Music aside, she hasn’t stopped working, she’s been prolific, punishing at times. We’re here to discuss her new album You & I, her first in more than four years, it’s almost 11 years since the launch of her first album Ora. Rita Ora's GLAMOUR Unfiltered interview by Emily Maddick
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