Rita Ora Talks Rihanna Comparisons

U.K.-bred Roc Nation singer chats about bringing her music to the U.S.

Rita Ora is ready to take America by storm. The London-bred Albanian beauty sat down with The Breakfast Club on New York's Power 105.1 Wednesday (April 23) and faced a firing squad of questions about everything from comparisons to Rihanna to a rumored affair with Beyoncé's husband.
Ora, 23, signed to Jay Z's Roc Nation as a teen. Without a huge U.S. single under her belt, the "R.I.P." singer has yet to blow up musically in the states as she has in the U.K., but she has had to deal with stories about her personal life and her similarities to fellow Roc Nation-signee Rihanna. She's unfazed.
"First of all, I love her," Ora said of Rih. "I think she is dope. And all these kind of comparisons, it’s kind of pretty flattering ... Good thing is, though, I’m doing my own thing, she's doing her own thing. We don't need to watch what each other is doing. We just do our own thing."
And when asked about old rumors that she and Jay had an affair, Ora shot back quickly. "Don't you dare disrespect Beyoncé like that ever again in your entire life," she told the radio hosts. "You should know better than that ... that's just straight up disrespect."
Instead, Ora's focused on a proper introduction to the U.S. Her new album, she said, features production from DJ Mustard and she's reconnected with Diplo. "This album for me is more about just really telling people that Rita's real. ... [T]his time around I just wanted to tour the states. I wanna see the world, and I wanna see people. I get inspired by you guys [Americans] all the time. I love your culture, I love your food and I love how you dress, and I love the whole vibe of it."