Rita Ora covers the October issue of Marie Claire UK to promote Southpaw. I have still not heard anyone except for Harvey Weinstein rave about Rita’s “breathtaking” performance, but I don’t think she had too much airtime. In this interview, Rita drags up the old Calvin Harris business again. She’s not over him at all, but I miss the days when they threw epic shade at each other and fought over his songs that he wrote for her.
Rita also brings up her American “takeover” again. She’s used this word for over a year, and she apparently discusses it again. Is she kidding? I’m really not sure. Some excerpts:
On her “takeover“: “Oh, it is in full effect. We’re these conniving Kosovan hungry bitches, I knew that one way or another, I was going to do things my way.”
On her style: “I would rip my T-shirts and be really punk and not clean, And I would have blonde hair, really dark eyebrows, red lipstick, lots of fake rings that made my fingers go green.”
On relationship issues: “I’m afraid of being alone. Sometimes love just makes you feel crazy. And that feeling that we have as girls, just to have that feeling, even for five seconds, it’s like crack. I mean, don’t compare it to that, but you know what I mean. Crack is whack!”
On her break up with Calvin: “There was a reason why I split up with him. It was more of a thing where I was in awe. I was at that point in my relationship where I felt he could do no wrong. I thought he had my back and that he’d never steer me wrong. But then ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ came out, and everything started to go a bit weird. I don’t know if it was because business was mixed with personal or what.”
[From Marie Claire]
Some outlets seem to think Rita is sending a secret message to Taylor Swift to not trust Calvin. I think they’re reading too much into this mess. Rita just wanted to trash Calvin again for old time’s sake. He sort of deserves it because he trashed her so much too, but enough already.
Rita also recently talked to Hollywood Reporter about Miley Cyrus’s chronic nudity, and Rita approves. She compares Miley to Madonna because they’re both comfy in their own skin, and “artists who are willing to do it only come along once in a blue moon.” Eh, not really.
Photos courtesy of Marie Claire, Fame/Flynet & WENN
Rita, baby girl …
What does she mean: “takeover”? Honest Question.
susannej, “takeover”, in this context, means something like “domination”. so, in her mind, rita is “dominating” (taking over) the american charts and/or whatever. delusional ora.
She has a good voice but doesn’t have what it takes (whatever “it” means) to make it big in the US. Not after that 3 million fake followers fiasco.
my sole comment was gonna Be: Oh Honey, NO!
She still wears the same hair and makeup and looks like she needs a good scrubbing.
Her eyebrow in the cover shot may haunt my dreams…
Exactly. Her obsesion with brows is just obvious and very much unflattering to her face. She is always trying way to hard to look the way she deos Why anybody would ever compare her with anything to do with Rihana.
LMAO
Is she of Kosovan descent? I never knew this. I love learning about peoples backgrounds, to me that was prob the only interesting bit of that interview.
Yep. Born in Kosovo to Kosovar-Albanian parents. Fun fact 👍
I know she is from Kosovo but she does have a look of
She looks like a variety.
Part African- white mixture or Latina-white mixture or Caribbean mixture.
Many people think someone’s not being totally honest on her background. That’s what I read anyway, even though I don’t see why anyone would hide something.
Yes when I look at Rita, I see a mulato of some sort. She looks like she has African/black ancestry. And people have discussed it too but she does not seem to want to fess up to it. Like it was something to be ashamed of. Eyeroll.
She looks completely Albanian
They are usually a bit darker because they are not Slavic, even if they are in Eastern Europe. They say they are decendants of the Illyrian people who lived in the area before the Slavic tribes arived. My best friend is half Albanian and much darker than I am.
Her parents fled the war in Kosovo and moved to England. They had to start their life from scratch with two little kids.
I can assure you that she looks totally Kosovan. I have many frieinds from Kosovo and Albania. They all are olive-dark skinned with thick eyebrows and very strong facial features. I think she’d look faired skinned if she dyed her hair back to her original color
I’m with you Evermore. I’m a black American woman that is part of the Creole culture, and I’ve grown up seeing women with blonde hair and green eyes, olive skin, that claim nothing but being African American. Rita looks like them, what used to be called “high yellow”.I think because African Americans are so mixed, due to slavery, we side-eye people like Rita that in the states would be black, PERIOD.But I’ve traveled a bit and in other countries people just don’t look at race the way American’s do, soooo…who knows. But I still think she’s got some African/Nubian blood in there somewhere.
@waitwhat, I really really doubt she has any African blood in her. Firstly, people of other races are extremely rare in that part of Europe, and secondly, she looks like a typical Albanian woman. I’m 99.99 % sure she’s completely white.
She would have never been groomed by JayZ and crew if she had not had that look of having some African or Latin blood. many people think she looks mixed racially and just assume she is from what is said on many sites.
I am in Language classes with some people from Kosovo and several of them said she looks mixed with something else. Africans and Latins have been in all areas of Europe hundreds of years ago, even though history does not own up to Africans explorers who traveled the world.
Rita’s family moved to UK so maybe some things were hidden by her family or just not told.
Being from Kosovo doesn’t mean one is completely white, no matter what she or her pr says.
just saying.
I mean fine, but I’m just saying I know a lot of people of Albanian/Kosovar decent and they look like her AND are completely white.
And why would her family hide being black? Where they are from they would face more prejudice being Albanian than being black.
This is just how she is styled. She looks like where she comes from… I think it’s just because people are not used to seeing South-Eastern Europeans – they tend to have US (latino-black) benchmarks, but there are all sorts of ethnicities.
@waitwhat
I certainly understand that……I honestly thought she was mixed race when I saw her. But yea. I’m lighter than Rita, and besides my hair, I look white. But I do consider myself to be black, first and foremost…..
She spray tans and wears a lot of make-up. The platinum hair with dark brows doesn’t help but she’s not dark. http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/06/21/rita-ora-without-makeup-natural-beauty-pic/
I saw her school photos and imo she looks mixed, it’s no biggie, it’s just my opinon. It’s just as a person of racially mixed heritiage myself, I just see it in her and so do a lot of African American sites.
I;m not saying her family is not white…I;m just saying RITA may not be completely white like ,some are saying,.. Imo she looks as mixed as several of my friends, my family who are African-American, white Norwegian.
Many in the Black community just think Rita Ora is a mulatto, or mixed girl and that along with her sound is a big part of her making headway in that market. jmo
The thing I don’t get, evermore is, if she said she isn’t mixed, and if she’s, as others pointed out, from a part of Europe where she isn’t likely to be mixed, why don’t you believe her?
She’s Albanian. People from Eastern Europe tend to have slightly darker skin tones than the west.
People from Southern Europe tend to be darker. Eastern Europeans are usually very light.
@Bae North-East are light… as soon as you move into Romania, Bulgaria, you’ve got alot more olive-skinned brunettes.
But look at Irina Shayk – she’s Russian but I’m sure lots of people think she’s latino or mixed.
Well, Romanians aren’t Slavic, are they?
My country is in Southeastern Europe and while the people in the coast tend to be darker, like Italians, in the inland you can find lots of blondes and gingers.
Rita annoys me but I find it in poor taste and childish when a celebrity publicly drags an ex through the media like Calvin did even if Rita did him wrong. It’s way classier to take the high road, and I guess what bugged me about Calvin was that he messed with the entire release of her CD and that he kept dragging her (it wasn’t a one time blowing off steam type of thing, which would be understandable). It’s one thing to take personal digs at someone, another to try and purposefully f*ck their career up.
It got her some PR. She loves that. I always thought their relationship was a PR stunt to boost her career since they are on the same label.
I really didn’t know much about Rita, except that she had been Calvin’s ex….then I recently saw her in a video performance on stage where she wore a very see-through blouse with pasties, a very short skirt, and bent over so her crack and thong would show. All through the performance, it was obvious that she was desperately trying too-hard to draw attention to herself, but not in a good way……I didn’t walk away with a very good impression of her. She seemed very insecure and used every trick in the book to expose her private parts a little too much just to draw the most attention. Oh….and her talent for singing was, well, not all that good.
Calvin strikes me as really petty for his age- 31 going on 15. I wonder how he’s going to handle it when he and Taylor eventually break up.
I know everyone hates her but I think she’s quite pretty.
I think she’s pretty too and I don’t care if she mentions Calvin over and over. He did her so dirty (I hope he shows his ass again when he and Tay break up). I know the rumors are she cheated on him but I still don’t like how he messed with her career.
I’ve always thought she was very striking.
I agree about Calvin. She took the high road and he acted liked a bitter, petulant baby. Messing with her career was about as unprofessional as you can get and shows what a vindictive, petty man he is. So she can comment if she wants in my book.
Really? The whole Calvin thing really made me think less of Rita. She’s in the music business, she should have locked the song down but didn’t. That was her responsibility no matter the personal relationship she had with Calvin and she didn’t take care of her business and proceeded to complain about it publicly.
Yes she is ,I think she looks like a Rhianna a bit.
So who is she?
ok!
Overrated singer
Ugh that hair!!!! So unflattering I want to see her change it up and deep condition
Her hair looks nasty and is wayyyy to light for her.
On her style: “I would rip my T-shirts and be really punk and not clean, And I would have blonde hair, really dark eyebrows, red lipstick, lots of fake rings that made my fingers go green.”
It sounds like Madonna. Madonna was punk when new on the scene before she became really famous. She ripped and cut her shirts in the Danceteria days, watching some show on her. She wasn’t always super clean because she lived from place to place, washing up where she could. Really dark eyebrows, red lipstick, blonde hair was totally Madonna during Who’s that Girl period.
Does she even know how Madonna it all sounds?
Dear Rita,
I don’t think you’re as “big” or popular as you think you are (nobody knows any of your songs). Stop with the blond hair and dark brows, which look like starving caterpillars. Lastly, no. Just no.
Sincerely,
Rice
I know a lot of her songs. She’s a good singer amd her songs are decent too. And sje did have success, wasn’t she even nominated for an Oscar?
I don’t get what the problem is with her on this site.
Nah! She’s well-known but not star-famous. We all know Jessie J and her songs but she has no star value. Rita is well connected so we see her a lot. The problem with her is that she acts like she’s bigger than she actually is and that she has no personal style. She’s often referred to as Rihanna understudy. Shame coz she has a better voice than Ri and is really pretty. Let’s just say that her place in the industry seemed forced and her fame isn’t organic.
The problem is that she has zero charisma and originality, but still her team or whoever try hard to make her happen. When your love/sex life is more in evidence than your work, something’s wrong. Also, she always comes across as trashy and dumb.
Exactly , Naddie.
Rita Ora sang one of the nominated songs at the Oscars but she wasn’t nominated for it. Diane Warren was.
Taking over? Translation:Been seeing and linked to every last American male celebrity, until all of America caves in and acknowledge our Rita.*eye roll* I think that is what she means by taking over. I find her bland, she has a good voice, looks pretty enough and is still never more than meh, for me.
She has a mediocre voice that producers auto tune til it sounds like everything else does. She became a thing the way many pop stars do… cough cough.
She has a really nice voice.
Shes actually a really talented singer, if you listen to her music a bit better.
PLEASE! Drop the Calvin Harris issue! Stop beating the dead horse.
I used to dislike her a bit cos in the UK she’s everywhere and a bit overexposed so I got sick of seeing her face. But actually she was really good on The Voice (so much less annoying than Jessie J was!), and now I’ve warmed to her. Also, I really dislike Calvin Harris so I will defend any celebrity over him. I felt like he was a bit mean for not wanting/allowing her to sing any songs he’d written after they broke up. (That’s what I read anyway so she had to redo her album, could have got the wrong end of the stick).
Her album, her responsibility to secure the rights for the songs she recorded.
Not how the music industry works my love, but cute try.
Yes, you’re totally right. It’s silly of me to suggest that artists need to have the proper rights to songs that they want to record, perform and release. She didn’t own those songs and got burned when the relationship went sour. Silly me for thinking she should have taken care of business!
I like her as well Bluebell!
The only thing I know about Rita Ora is she used to date Rob Kardashian. And it still makes me giggle.
It looks like her brows were drawn on with a Sharpie.
If she’s not over him now that calvin is dating TS, I have no idea what ever will!
Calvin was a major tool for not letting her use the music. He’s well known as a petty, vindictive jerk. She can call him a jerk all she wants for that.
How has she let her label and management skate for their part in that Calvin/album mess? Maybe she didn’t behind closed doors but she’s still with the same management and label so it didn’t have much impact. He really only had the leverage to mess with her album because of their screw up. Going on the honor system and not securing the written rights to perform, reproduce, and distribute music that’s meant to go on an album and be distributed worldwide? That’s a big, fat F in music business 101. Not securing those rights was major incompetence on someone’s part.
And I, as a fan, am really annoyed because I’m sure those tracks are amazing and I’d love to hear them.
I know nothing about Rita Ora, but the rest of the headlines on that cover are too funny
She will never not be Wh-Ora to me
.
This chick is so desperate to make it in the states and it is just not happening
I saw her on the tv show Empire and was surprised how mediocre her voice was after all the hype.
I seriously still know one of her solos songs (the one from the movie) but I could tell you her entire relationship timeline. Also I love how people pretend she’s in all these movies when in reality its blink and you missed her. Southpaw? She has MAYBE 2-3 minutes of screentime. Seriously. I know she’s in 50 shades but I heard that part was small as well (don’t wish to torture myself with that dreck). So I’m not sure she’s gotten the clue that she hasn’t “happened” yet or what takeover she speaks off lol
Wow! I saw that cover and my first thought was, “Is that Paris Jackson? Did she dye her hair?” D’oh!
I’ve actually thought a lot less of her after the whole Calvin debacle. She may not have slung mud, but she publicly complained a lot about not being able to use those songs when SHE is the one that messed up in not getting the proper rights to them in the first place. If her business had been taken care of he couldn’t have done that in the first place. She’s been in the music business long enough for her to know better.
She is everywhere, yet I still have no idea who this woman is, just that she f*cks for tracks.
She was in Southpaw for about 15 seconds. She played a tweaker. It was a “blink and you miss it” scene in EVERY meaning of the term. I’m side-eyeing HW.😒
I thought her and Calvin split because she cheated on him, in fact I remember there being BIs about her cheating on a few occasions. Not sure if that gives her the right to throw shade at him.
“On her style: “I would rip my T-shirts and be really punk and not clean, And I would have blonde hair, really dark eyebrows, red lipstick, lots of fake rings that made my fingers go green.””
So, what’s changed, Rita?
Nicer jewelry?
Probably!
She still thinks she is going to happen in the U.S., but she’s only famous for banging famous men. I don’t think she’s going to suddenly take off unless she suddenly has a mega hit. Not likely.
Still don’t know who she is despite the all out multi-year media PR push. At this point Kate Bosworth is better defined to me than Rita Ora.
Rita makes me furious because they keep trying to make her happen in the USA, by simply showing her as a budget Rihanna. Why would anyone want a budget Rihanna when the actual Ri releases a new album every 2 weeks?!
The thing is Rita could be so much better. She’s got a great voice, completely ruined by crappy pop music that doesn’t do her vocals justice. She’s got a very pretty and unique face, but they make her up to look like everyone else. That’s why Rita will never take over, imo. She’s just a lamer version of stuff we already got.