A NEW ERA FOR ORA

A NEW ERA FOR ORA 

Ever since Rita Ora's debut record dominated it's way up to the top of the charts back in 2012, Rita Sahatçiu Ora has found herself stuck in an endless loop of unfortunate events constantly placing her career and reputation on the line. Now with the recent release of her sophomore album titled Phoenix which was officially launched on Friday 23rd November 2018, approximately six years after her self-titled first album Ora, could this be the British singers chance to finally get the musical recognition that she well deserves ?

Already dealing with a problematic journey towards its release, Phoenix had album information such as the release date, cover art and title allegedly to have all leaked online via HMV’s official website forcing Rita to make a Statement on the re-works of a new album. Then again the digital mishap was just another bump in the road for the British beauty who initially tried to kick off the campaign for album number two in 2014. After releasing the solid love anthem titled "I Will Never Let You Down" as the album's lead single, Rita was strictly prohibited from using the track by her ex Calvin Harris who aided in producing the track. Their break-up was so intense that Ora was banned from performing at the Teens Awards by Harris. As well as stopping her from performing the song, reports claim he aggressively refused to let Rita use material they had worked on together for her album. Forcing her back to the drawing boards. 

Rita said: "He has to approve anything TV-wise, for anybody who doesn’t get it, and obviously he owns the rights to it, and he didn’t approve the Teen Choice Awards. I was scheduled to perform."

To think as if that wasn't bad enough, Rita's music career took another unforeseen turn after she filed a lawsuit against her record label Roc Nation. In legal documents she claimed that the Jay Z owned company no longer saw her as a priority and thus asked to be released from her contract. She found herself in the midst of a $2.4 million six-month legal battle with Roc Nation, after failing to release the required number of albums in her time with the label. All this hassle effectively paused Ora's singing career until 2016.  As a matter of fact, during the closing track, “Soul Survivor” we get to witness Ora like never before. It is one of her most personal tracks to date as she embraces the rocky road to stardom and defiantly claps back at those who tried to tear her down. A truly powerful track with a emotional message behind it.

Phoenix made it's way to number one album on Itunes worldwide within the first 24 hours of its release reminding us all on how she has the finest voice in pop. The album itself contains Many of the tracks which have already gone on to become major hits like Fifty Shades Freed anthem with Liam Payne on “For You”, the catchy “Anywhere” , "Your song" and latest single “Let You Love Me”. The album also contains other pre-released singles such as "Lonely Together" the track involved the work of the recently deceased Avicii and "Girls" in which Ora expresses to the public for the first time how she has had previous romantic encounters with both men and women and she is proud to embrace her bisexuality. The track also features Cardi B, Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX. The album also includes several other new music which can be understood as a positively enjoyable mix of sounds. With tracks like "Summer Love" or "Velvet Rope" giving a sharp jazz vibe and future pop hits such as "First Time High", "Hell Of A Life", "New Look" and one of my personal favorites "Cashmere". The album saves space for some mellow pop tunes such as " Falling To Pieces","Only Want you" and "Keep Talking" giving the listener the chance to go on a journey of ups and downs not only when it comes to the beat but also in the lyrical content. 

Besides many curve balls thrown her way, Rita has proved that she rightly so will not let anything stop her from doing what she loves. Even though the album was well over due, it surely was worth the wait and in my opinion speaks for itself in displaying it may have been a difficult road to success for Rita but like a phoenix, she has risen from it all and is better than ever.