Rita Ora

Rita Ora for unknown photoshoot

**Rita Sahatçiu Ora** (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in January of 2021 when she released her debut single, "Neon", which reached number five on the official charts. Her debut studio album, *Heartbreaker,* was released in July of 2021 and debuted at number two on the official charts. The album contained the top three hit "Better Now", the top ten hits "Grateful and "Riverside' and the top three hit "Neon".

On March 10 of 2023, Rita released her second studio album, *Adore,* which debuted at number three on the official charts. The album contained the number one single "Riverside" and the top three hit "On My Way".

## Early Life & Beginnings

Ora was born in **Pristina**, **SFR Yugoslavia** (modern-day **Kosovo**), to Albanian parents. Her mother, Vera (née Bajraktari), is a psychiatrist and her father, Besnik Sahatçiu, is a pub owner, having previously studied economics. Ora has an older sister, Elena, and a younger brother, Don. She was born as Rita Sahatçiu (pronounced [sahatˈtʃiu]; surname derived from the Turkish word *saatçi*, which means 'watchmaker'), but her parents later added Ora (*ora* means 'time' in Albanian) to the family surname so it could be easily pronounced.

Her family left Kosovo for political reasons, because of the persecution of Albanians initiated with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. They relocated to London, England in 1991, when she was a baby. She grew up in Notting Hill, in West London, and attended a performing arts school, Sylvia Young Theatre School.

## Career

### 2015 - 2018: Fifty Shades film series

Ora booked her first acting role in Fifty Shades of Grey, she starred as Mia Grey, Christian's adopted younger sister. She reprised her role as Mia Grey in Fifty Shades Darkes and Fifty Shades Freed. Rita Ora also contributed to the soundtracks of the second and third installment of the Fifty Shades film series. She performed "Kiss Me" from the Target deluxe edition of the Fifty Shades Darker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. For Fifty Shades Freed: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Ora performed the lead single "For You" together with Liam Payne with great success. The music video for the single was never released.

### 2016 - 2017: America's Next Top Model

In July of 2016, it was announced that Rita would replace Tyra Banks as the head judge for cycle 23. She was the head judge for the entire cycle and it was announced that Rita would not return for cycle 24 due to the return of Tyra. Rita always stayed interested in fashion and continued on with fashion in the years following. She also continues on to do so with her musical career.

### 2020 - 2022: Music ventures, Physical Records & Heartbreaker

After her career debut in 2015 with the Fifty Shades film series and her host gig on America's Next Top Model in 2016 - 2017, Ora was excited to start her music venture. In 2020 news broke that Rita Ora had signed a new record deal with Physical Records ,a division of Sony Music Group. She started some promo during that time to announce what she has been up to. Eventually, Ora began working on what would eventually become her debut studio album.

Ora started teasing her debut single on December 25th, 2020. She started posting GIFs on her Twitter from what became the music video for her debut single. Starting in the new year, she released the single cover for her debut single titled, Neon, on her Twitter. Two days before the release, it was announced that Neon would be released on January 8, 2021. It was labeled as the lead single for her upcoming debut studio album. She went on a promotional campaign for the single starting in the United States and ending in Europe. Neon went on to peak at number five on official charts.

On February 18, 2021, Ora started teasing her debut studio album. From February 18 - February 25, Ora teased the album cover by slowly revealing the album cover day by day. She tweeted out lyrics to her songs on the album with the reveal. On February 26, 2021, Ora's debut album, Heartbreaker, was put up for pre-order alongside the release of promotional single, Grateful. The single had a lower debut than Neon but managed to peak at number seven on the official charts. In March of the same year, Rita teased the "why is love such a disappointment" trailer. In the trailer, we can see a snow landscape, while Rita stands in this tall stone building, crying, while singing to the lyrics to what would eventually become her album track/final single, Riverside. Finally, on June 7, she announced that her debut album was set to be released on July 2, 2021 followed by releasing the tracklist with visual videos on her social media accounts.

Two weeks before the album release, Better Now was released as the second official single. Despite it being the third song Ora released, it is being considered as Ora's breakthrough single. The single skyrocketed up the charts following it's number seven debut. The single became Ora's first top three hit with it peaking at number three. The single was Ora's first multi-platinum single, Grateful followed slowly after that. Heartbreaker was released on July 2 as planned. The album's themes are love, heartbreak, cheating, anxiety, self-reflect and more. The album debuted with over 600,000 copies sold worldwide. Heartbreaker is (as of September 2022) certified 9x platinum and was named the thirteenth most streamed album of 2021.

On October 26th, Rita Ora teased the third and final single from her debut era. She teases Riverside featuring Ariana Grande as the final single by posting GIFs and lyrics of the song. Ariana Grande also joined as she teased the single by simply tweeting "riverside". On November 3, Ora once again slowly revealed the single cover for Riverside. The cover included both Rita Ora and Ariana Grande. On November 9, Ora teased the star-studded music video for Riverside featuring herself, Ariana Grande, Don Benjamin, Nassim Lyes, Normani, Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez and Zendaya. The single was released as the official third single on November 12, 2021 alongside the star-studded music video. As a promotional campaign for the single, Ora partnered up with CALTube to release her "Live From London Series" where she performed three songs from her album.

On December 17th, Ora teamed up with Sabrina Carpenter to release their charity single, Better Days. All profits made from the single would be given to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Toys for Tots.

On June 28th, Sony announced their nominees for the Sony Music of Excellence Awards and she got two nominations for Best Sony Female and Best Sony New Artist. Followed by that, she received one Video Music Awards nomination in 2021 for Push Best New Artist, one Grammy Award nomination in 2022 for Best New Artist and she was recognized with the Rising Star accolade at the 2022 Billboard Women in Music event. Ora was the tenth most streamed artist in 2021 with a total of 1,5 billion streams. Her single, Better Now, was the tenth most streamed song in 2021 with over 580 million streams received in that year.

### 2023: Running, Adore, Barbie The Album and more

On December 2, 2022, Rita Ora released Running, the lead single for her second studio album. Couple days prior, she posted the single cover on FILTH, teasing the release. After that, she went on a promotional campaign for the single all across the United States and parts of Europe. The single managed to debut at number one, a huge milestone for Ora's career. The single went on to become six times platinum for selling over 6,000,000 copies worldwide and has so far reached 690,000,000 streams on streaming services, making it Ora's most streamed single to date.

On January 5, 2023, Rita teased the album cover for her upcoming second studio album as she posted a blurred photo of the album cover on FILTH. On January 15, ten days after the post on FILTH, Rita launched the '#THEPATHOFLOVE' trend. Fans could visit the website from time to time to see a countdown with some quotes from Rita herself being at the top hinting at the theme for her next album. On January 20, Rita announced the pre-order for her second studio album titled Adore. She posted a video on FILTH which slowly revealed the album cover. The promotional single Forever was released on February 3, 2023 together with the music video. The promotional single is certified gold for selling over 500,00 copies worldwide.

Five days before the release of the album, Rita revealed the tracklist. Sabrina Carpenter was announced as the only collaboration on the album. On that same day, Rita announced she had something prepared for her fans as posted on her official FILTH account. On March 8th, she released the album trailer titled 'What Does Being In Love Mean' taking on the meaning of the title throughout the 2 minute and 37 second long trailer.

Adore was released on March 10, 2023 as planned. The album takes on topics such as love, sex, scared to fall in love again, vulnerablity, family, anxiety and friendships. The album debuted at No. 3 with over 819,000 copies sold worldwide. Heartbreaker is (as of November 2023) certified 4x platinum for selling over 4,000,000 copies worldwide. On August 21, Rita Ora announced the Adore World Tour.

    On July 28, 2023 the soundtrack for the Barbie move was released titled Barbie The Album. Rita already announced that she was a part of the album with a track titled Daydream. Other artists on the soundtrack are Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Zendaya, Dua Lipa, Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, Normani, Lorde, Father John Misty, Ryan Gosling and Jessie J.

## Discography

### Studio Albums

* Labels: Physical Records/Sony Music Group
* Formats: CD, digital download, streaming, Vinyl
 *Adore* | * Released: March 10, 2023
* Labels: Physical Records/Sony Music Group
* Formats: CD, digital download, streaming

## Tours & Festivals

* BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (2022): Main Stage
* Lorde's Violent Night Stadium Tour (2023): Opening Act on selected dates
* Rita Ora's Adore World Tour (2023 - 2024): Headlining Tour