Rita Ora explores her real-life love story in her new album, You & I. The British singer/songwriter –known in her native United Kingdom for hits “How Do We (Party)” and “R.I.P.” and in the U.S. for her hit collaborations with Iggy Azalea on “Black Widow,” “Doing It” with Charli XCX and “Lonely Together” with Avicii – returns with her first album in five years. It’s clear that her 2022 marriage to Thor director Taika Waititi opened her up musically, as she’s still serving pop jams, but with lyrics that feel more personal.
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She demonstrates this with the opening track “Don’t Think Twice,” which features eyebrow-raising lyrics like, And baby when you saw me naked/I’ve never felt more alive, before dropping into a club-friendly beat and lyrics where she’s drunk on love, yet it’s the kind of love that helps her see life more clearly. Ora continues to prove she isn’t afraid to get intimate through her lyrics, like she does in the first verse of “Unfeel It” as she sings, Something about our bodies/How they intertwine/And when you said you loved me/All I did was cry. Here, she admits to being all fucked up but in the best way, taking us inside her mind as she realizes she’s in the midst of falling into a love that’s so deep and true to the point where she can’t unfeel it.
She gets particularly personal with her own love story in “Waiting For You,” admitting how she used to watch all of her friends get married and wasn’t sure if she’d meet the same fate. But when she met the love of her life in Waititi it erased all of her doubts, knowing now that she was waiting for him all along, as told through a disco-esque melody. Perhaps no lyrics demonstrate her perspective on her love story better than in the title track. Always thought that the one thing waiting for me/Was not a wonderful world but a tragedy/But you went and rewrote our whole story/To an everlasting love, she sings over a booming, cinematic melody.
While much of the album centers around the theme of being in love with someone else, she delves into her personal journey to self-love on “Shape of Me.” Here, she’s letting go of negative self-talk to come out on the other side even stronger. The song serves as a conversation between a mother and daughter, with the elder passing down such wisdom and encouragement as, She said don’t you worry babe/You can’t help the way you’re shaped/So you gotta go/Make peace with all the pieces that you hate, that Ora sings over a motivational drum beat that makes for one of the album’s best songs.
“Shape of Me” sets off a chain reaction, as Ora continues on the topic of self-love in “Look At Me Now,” sharing how she’s made peace with her reflection in the mirror. It took all of hell/Just to love myself/Now I’m seeing things clearer/Don’t need anyone else, she affirms. This is followed by “Girl in Mirror,” which offers the plot twist wherein Ora admits to cheating, yet she’s cheating on her lover with herself as she professed, I’m in love with the girl in the mirror.
The hit singer ends the album at the beginning of her love journey, taking us inside her and Waititi’s budding relationship at a time when Ora felt as though she had to keep her feelings inside, knowing that her words have the power to change her life. I swear I’m in love with you/But I got to lie to you/Cause if I let out the truth/I can never take it back, she sings a cappella with just a few piano notes supporting her, bringing the album to a beautiful close.
Photo Credit: Michella Bredahl/Courtesy of Permanent Press Media
