Rita Ora really kept us waiting for her third studio album, while focusing on many different endeavors in recent years. You & I finally hit the shelves this Friday, but was it worth the wait and where does it rank in comparison to the rest of her discography?
Ora’s career kicked off with a bang when she signed with Roc Nation during the early 2010s, but she struggled to keep the hype alive in later years. She shifted labels twice and released You & I under BMG, promising her most personal record to date, but did she manage to deliver on that promise?
Ora started teasing You & I earlier this year, with the lead single “You Only Love Me”, inspired by her marriage to Taika Waititi, like the majority of her third LP. She went on to join forces with Fatboy Slim for “Praising You”, which samples one of his biggest hits, giving us one of the album’s catchiest and most delightful tracks.
You & I features several power ballads, such as “Shape of Me”, “Notting Hill”, and the titular
“You & I”. Even though they’re the core of this album, she never fully commits to them, mixing them up with dancefloor bangers such as “Don’t Think Twice”.
Ora always relied on an army of writers to tell her stories, and her attempt to get “more real” on You & I is admirable but pretty uneven. She made her best attempt to bare her soul, but most of her new songs fit into generic mid-tempo pop and are ultimately too forgettable for this album to make any real impact.
