RITA ORA - 'ORA'

Roc Nation has a new Queen. Her name, Rita Ora. Jay-Z's protégée released her debut album just last week and topped the UK Albums Chart after a long string of successful number one singles, 'Hot Right Now', 'R.I.P' and 'How We Do (Party)'. Rihanna's labelmate has been surrounded by hype since releasing her debut single while having Jay-Z and superstar wife, Beyonce as mentors would have helped the Albanian-British star immensely but is this  a A* record or just a project that is all hype and no good?

The album gets off to a fiery start with the Diplo produced, 'Facemelt', a highlight of the album but disappointing with only 1:33 of swury beats, 'boom's and 'base filled vocals. The reason why the song is unusually short is unknown but seems to be copying of Rihanna who did the same thing with 'Birthday Cake' last year. Maybe Rita will release the full version as a single to gain sales, who knows? for the time being it will just have to do.

The album isn't all as ferocious as 'Facemelt' with tracks like 'Love & War' discussing being in an unhappy relationship and features labelmate, J. Cole. The track is made up from 808's and banging drums, with Rita providing hooks throughout although he vocals don't seem to be as impressive as you would think with comparisons to belters, Rihanna and Beyonce.

The album also features some Rock influenced tracks, 'Uneasy', 'Roc The Life' and of course lead UK single 'R.I.P'. In 'Roc The Life', the songstress confesses the wants to 'infamous', 'notorious' and a 'zillionair' while she rocks the life. The-Dream produced track features some very uninspiring hooks 'li li li li li....' which pretty much comprises the whole chorus, other than that the track is enjoyable and incredibly (but annoyingly) catchy.

A stand out track from the album is a pop/dance banger called 'Radioactive' with Rita singing sultry throughout and the beats hitting left and right your left in a 90's trance and could find yourself getting up off your sofa and throwing some mad shapes. The track is an uplifting mix of beats, chants and build-ups that will leave you extremely satisfied.  

Other tracks include, slow ballad songs 'Hello, Hi, Goodbye' and 'Been Lying'. The will.i.am assisted stomper 'Fall in Love' where Rita screams 'Don't want a one night stand, just wanna fall in love', it will have you singing and jumping with sass.

Standout Tracks: 'Facemelt', 'Radioactive' & 'Fall in Love'. 

  ★ ★ ★

You can download 'ORA' on iTunes (UK) here and will be available in the US on Sept. 25th.

Thoughts on the album? - JUiC3R.