Rita Ora reveals she wrote her new song while hungover the morning after her wedding
The songstress, 32, released her new album – also called You & I – on Friday and ahead of the release appeared on Capital Breakfast where she told Chris Stark, Roman Kemp and Sian Welby the hilarious story about how the song came to be.
After her wedding to the filmmaker she revealed she was meeting with a producer who could not do any other day, so she snuck away from her new husband and wrote the candid new track in a ‘morning after the night before’ haze.
She said: ‘Yes, I was very hungover… Well, the producer that I wanted to work with was only available the day after I got married. And I was thinking, ahh, I can’t cancel it. And so I walked in. I said, listen, I just got married and I’m really hungover…
‘I don’t know how this is gonna go down. But I don’t want to miss this session. So let’s do it, and he was like ‘okay, well, let’s just sing about you getting married’.
‘I said, alright cool let’s write an ultimate wedding song. And actually, that’s my favourite song on the album.’
Roman asked: ‘What I’m interested in is what Taika thought of that?… Day after the wedding was he awake to realise that you had left?’
She then confessed: ‘Yeah, I snuck out. I think I only got like two, three hours of sleep. And then I went in and I actually referenced all my favourite love songs within this love song. So it was trying to make the ultimate love song…
‘So actually, it worked wonders because there was no filter. When you’re hungover you just sort of like say what you want.’
Speaking about the significance of the new record, she revealed: ‘The ‘You’ in You & I represents more than just the man I love. It’s my mum, my friends, my fans, and in some ways, it represents the relationship I have with myself…
‘This album has been like my diary for the past two years, and I’m so thrilled you finally get to hear it.’
Rita co-wrote every track on the album, which has been described as her most diaristic project yet. She worked with executive producer Oak Felder, whose previous collaborators include Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys and Usher.
Earlier this year, Rita lifted the lid on her secret wedding to Taika, as she shared details from their ‘spiritual’ ceremony. After they tied the knot last summer, Rita revealed that she didn’t want any ‘special attention’ on the day.
She told Glamour magazine: ‘Some women like to feel that real special attention that day. And everyone’s different. And for me – I think with my job, it is all… it’s very attention driven – I wanted to keep it private because my life and my career aren’t..
The last-minute ceremony was planned in just two days and the only guests to attend in person were Taika’s two daughters from his first marriage and Rita’s sister.
The couple were under pressure to find a date between their hectic work schedules, with Rita explaining: ‘It was either then or we had to wait for ages…
‘I didn’t want to do it without my stepkids there. So, we just figured it out and we did it. And it was perfect.’