Rita Ora kicked off her supporting role on Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension Tour’ in style.
The British chart-topper wowed as she performed hits including ‘Your Song’ and ‘Let You Love Me’, as well as her solo rendition of her emotional duet with late One Direction star Liam Payne, ‘For You’, at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Friday (11.04.25).
As quoted by The Sun on Sunday’s Bizarre column, Rita said after her first set of the US leg: “First night of the tour and, wow, the reception was incredible.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity to connect with North America.
“It feels like such a huge compliment to open up for such an icon.”
It’s fitting that Rita is opening for the Australian Pop Princess, as it was previously revealed that Kylie’s 2023 mega-hit from ‘Tension’, ‘Padam Padam’, was nearly given to her.
The synth-pop banger – penned by Norwegian singer-songwriter Ina Wroldsen and producer Lostboy – was a viral hit for Kylie, but several artists were asked if they wanted to record it, including the ‘Anywhere’ singer, because they didn’t feel it was a Kylie song.
Lostboy told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “We wrote Padam in February 2022 and there were maybe four or five months of us sitting on it, then I sent it to their label, and someone suggested to me, ‘Kylie would kill this.'”
He added: “They were unsure and there was a moment when Rita was going to cut it and it was worming around a few artists on that label.
“They were trying to make it work but they didn’t think it was for Kylie.”
Kylie attracted a whole new generation of fans after the lead single from ‘Tension’ swiftly racked up views and was reused in clips on TikTok.