Back when Beyoncé’s Lemonade came out, the majority of us wanted to know just who the hell Becky with the Good Hair was. As Kaiser covered, Rita Ora was once a Becky suspect, to which she issued an adamant denial. She didn’t say she wasn’t Becky, just that she idolized both Beyoncé and Jay Z, with whom she recently settled a lawsuit over a contract dispute with his record label. Rita was interviewed by Vanity Fair to discuss her new record deal and her hosting gig at America’s Next Top Model. Interviewer Lisa Robinson asked Rita how things were with Jay and Bey. Rita tried to avoid riling up the Beyhive again but ended by throwing a little mud in their direction.
L.R.: Are you still friendly with Jay Z?
R.O.: First and foremost, Jay Z is my inspiration and one of my idols—lyrically, musically, business-wise. I still look up to him and his wife every day. Beyoncé was one of my biggest idols growing up.L.R.: You—along with other women—were embroiled in the “Becky with the good hair” brouhaha after Beyoncé released Lemonade. You posted a photo of yourself on Snapchat wearing a bra with a lemon print from your clothing line, and you wore a “Not Becky” pin at a Met Ball after-party.
R.O.: That [pin] was a present from Katy Perry. Maybe I was the only one seen wearing it, but there were others. As for the rest of it, I’m oblivious, I’m just not the gossip queen. I find it incredibly rude and disrespectful to women in general [when] we get accused of something that’s basically against the important part—the music.
Rita is the queen of talking around a point, isn’t she? “Are you Becky?” “I love those guys!” “Are you pissed at Jay Z?” “Beyoncé was my hero!” “Why did you put yourself into the Becky conversation?” “Feminism. And Music is important, Rude-y McRudeston!” I agree that baseless accusations are rude but if Beyoncé issues a written invitation to figure out who was messing with her man and you look like you just got done brushing your hair? Duck and cover. I wax and wane on Katy Perry but the fact that she was passing out “Not Becky” pins at the Met Ball made me fall a little in love with her. Anyone who walks into a powderkeg with a pocketful of flints is somebody I want to get a drink with.
You can read Rita’s full Vanity Fair interview here. She speaks about her UN work with Kosovo and her collaboration with Prince. Robinson also manages to bring up Rita’s ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris not allowing her to perform their songs. Rita once again walked around the question, ending cryptically with, “Love is so great, but it also can be the most dangerous thing on planet earth. People do crazy things when it comes to jealousy and love.”
Speaking of crazy, can someone explain this outfit to me?
Photo credit: WENN and Fame/Flynet Photos
Im trying to get to like her because Im sooooo excited for ANTM’s all-female comeback (the mixed reasons were SO. AWFUL.) I’ll miss Tyra’s lunacy though. But at least they got rid of Kelly Cutrone, who must be the worst judge in reality TV history. What a disgusting, vile woman.
Rita never stops trying to make it happen, does she?
In a way that is admirable but I really just don’t care for her. She’s boring.
I’m gonna be stoned but those punk shoes make my heart race, I’m absolutely obsessed ever since I saw them on the runway.
The explanation for the outfit? “I’M THIRSTY!”
I’m just hear to say that until recently I had no idea black women didn’t like their natural hair or felt as though it is perceived as “less than.” I can appreciate the social-cultural and historical situations that generate this feeling but I just want all of you to know that ever since I was a little girl I have thought black hair, in all it’s forms, was nothing short of gorgeous. I’m a white eastern european woman and whenever I see a woman with her natural hair I go ga-ga and wish mine were like that! So next time you feel understandably “less than” just know Im out there admiring!
Thanks for your approval.
Come on Blaire, I doubt this was mockery. I think she is sincere. It’s a compliment and I welcome it.
You’re right Lama Bean. It was just the last line. I’m not even defensive I just gave it the side-eye as someone with naturally curly that got touched all the time as a kid.
All love. I totally get it.
Yes natural hair is still banned in some places and as recent as last week black women have lost their jobs and been suspended from school for wearing natural hair. So yes, we are told straight up that our hair hair isn’t beautiful, good enough or professional. It’s not just a perception.
Very very happy that you see the beauty in our hair type. Thank you for the compliment 😘😘
That’s outrageous for a person’s natural hair to be disallowed at their work place. I can’t even begin to imagine how furious that must make you!
Not about the beauty standards for black hair per se, but I have always thought dark black skin was the pinnacle of skin beauty and can never understand how anyone can look at someone with skin like Lupita (or darker) and not be blown away by its beauty. I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m fetishising people with skin like that, I just live near a large Sudanese community and I find myself stunned all the time by how blemish-free, poreless and silken their skin appears most of the time.
What I took away from this story is that when Katy stays in her non-appropriating lane she’s actually a really cool person 😊
Well, um, I hope Rita makes it stateside so she is always out of the UK. I think it’s the least you guys could do for us.
Speaking of Jay-Z – I like the collaboration about the war on drugs with Molly Crabapple. I like Crabapple, not least because she comes from Far Rockaway, which is the bestestestest ever place name in the entire world.
If only she would stop talking and just model. She can actually pull that off.
This post has reaffirmed my love for Katy Perry!
That first dress is amazing. I wish she’d stop with the blonde hair though. Doesn’t go at all with her complexion.
And I just had to look up Rita’s age because the “growing up with Beyonce” was a strange comment. There’s only a 10 year age difference LOL