Rita Ora has no regrets about losing Padam Padam to Kylie Minogue.
Lostboy – who wrote the 2023 track – originally thought about giving the song to Rita before it became Kylie’s comeback hit, but the 34-year-old pop star has no hard feelings about missing out on the song.
She’s quoted by the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column as saying: “I’ve always grown up with this saying, ‘What’s for you won’t pass you’. And that’s always how I’ve lived my life.
“And it’s Kylie Minogue – she’s the queen of the world, in my opinion. So, of course, Kylie’s going to get it and kill it and do a great job.
“And in the pop industry, that happens every day to a lot of big artists – you just don’t know about it.”
Rita also pointed out that she and Lostboy are “very close friends”, adding that he “lives in [her] studio” in Los Angeles, California.
And Kylie made up for the loss by inviting the Let You Love Me hitmaker to support her on her recent US tour.
She said: “Kylie has been such an incredible inspiration to me for my whole life. And also having her as a supporter – I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“I haven’t toured like that for about three years and opening up for her was the best way to get back into live shows.
“Her audience are just so accepting and they really showed up for me. I just never wanted it to end. I’m just so grateful for that tour.”
Meanwhile, Rita recently released her new single Heat, which will be part of her next album – the currently unannounced follow-up to 2023’s You and I.
Reflecting on the song, she said: “The last album was about finding love and feeling super inspired by my relationship [with husband Taika Waititi].
“Whereas this one is just really inspired by having fun and being a sexy b****.
“I wanted to go back to how I started in my early career of feeling really comfortable in my skin and celebrating being a woman.”