There is no slowing down for Rita Ora. After releasing her first studio album, Ora has been featured in huge box office films including “Fifty Shades of Grey,” started releasing singles off of her second album and is now the honorary ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo, where she is originally from.
The singer/actress/ambassador is now supporting her upcoming second studio album and touring throughout the United States on the “Body on Me Tour,” named after her latest single with Chris Brown, which comes through Chicago on Sept. 17 at Lincoln Hall.
The DePaulia: What are you doing to prep for your tour, and how has it differed from your other tours?
Rita Ora: I’ve got a new band and music director for the American shows, and I have been rehearsing all of my new music. These are smaller venues than when I perform in the UK, so it will be a lot more intimate and will be closer to my fans.
DP: How will your upcoming album differ from your debut album?
RO: I have a lot more personal songs on the album.One is called “Kosovo,” which talks about my life and things I haven’t addressed in the media, that I can address through the emotion of music.
DP: What are you most excited for about your upcoming tour?
RO: Seeing new faces and new people that I haven’t performed in front of before.
DP: What has your collaboration with your co-songwriters been like? As a massive Kate Nash fan, I saw her being very vocal about “Poison” and excited for its release.
RO: I’m a huge fan of hers and so happy that she was a part of the song. Also, I respect Chris Brown as a musician so much. Vocally, he’s incomparable in my opinion.
DP: How did you get back into acting, after acting when you were younger? Do you see yourself wanting to do more acting in addition to music?
RO: I love acting. For me, performing is a form of acting. It gives you a chance to deliver a character in a different way on a screen. I wanted to play this part in “Southpaw” because it was opposite to what people see me as. I think that people pigeon hole you and it’s really liberating for me to show people that I can deliver something they could have never imagined.
DP: I’ve read that you consider yourself a feminist “in Beyonce’s mold.” What does it mean to you to be a feminist? And what does it mean to be a modern feminist?
RO: Feminism by definition is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men.” I see myself as equal to men, I should have a right to express myself in the same way as men, as do other women. I think people confuse feminism for picking women and bad mouthing men. That’s not what it’s about. It’s creating awareness so all genders are treated equally.
DP: What are your duties in being an honorary ambassador for the Republic of Kosovo? What were your feelings when you were named honorary ambassador?
RO: I cried. What I see my duties as are being aware of where I am from and what we have access to. In more privileged countries, they do not have access to such things as the opportunity of becoming an artist on such an international platform. They do not even have iTunes unless they register their bank cards on an EU registered country. They are hindered into participating in modern arts. What I do love is that they bring people to them, and that’s what I want to attract attention to. Things like DOCUFEST in Prizren, it celebrates cinema and film that has been created in the country. This is what I see as my obligation — to bring attention to these things.