Tinie Tempah joins Rita Ora for new single

"It's better than it would have been if it was shit".

How's that for a quote? The speaker is Rita Ora, Albania's hottest export since pickled cabbage, and she's promoting her forthcoming album - which has been three years in the making. "My record label has been very patient," she notes, accurately.

That label is Roc Nation, which is a coincidence, because Rita's debut single R.I.P. sounds exactly like a Rihanna song. Not that this is a bad thing if you're in the business of Selling Shedloads Of Records. And Rita, as it turns out, is the branch manager of a major Selling Shedloads Of Records depot.

She's just been number one on the incredible DJ Fresh track Hot Right Now, and garnered major attention last week when she brought label boss Jay-Z along to the US radio premiere of her new track Party And Bulls**t.

"Rita is amazing," noted Jay-Z, who had just attended a seminar in stating the obvious.

R.I.P. is out in the UK on 6th May and it pulls off a couple of great pop moves, especially Rita's image-defining lyrics ("I do it big, I shut it down") and the scorching hot electric guitar lines. It doesn't hurt that the track brings together a triumverate of pop brilliance.

1) It's written by Drake, current crown prince of the R&B potboiler.

2) Production work is handled by Chase & Status, who've "accidentally" left in a few bars of their remix of Nneka's Heartbeat.

3) There's a lengthy cameo from Tinie Tempah, who's on top puntastic form: "Sexy senorita, I feel your aura."

Pop rating: Seven pops.



PS: Just stumbled across this radio interview with Rita, which includes an acoustic performance of Hot Right Now. It is very good indeed.

Tweet