Rita Ora believes she’s been "a victim of a lot of scrutiny" since she became famous.
The ‘Anywhere’ hitmaker has become as well-known for her romances with famous men, including Calvin Harris, Rob Kardashian and Ricky Hil, as she is for her music and TV career and she thinks it’s unfair that she has been judged more compared to other women in the entertainment business.
She is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: "I was a victim of a lot of scrutiny – I still am – it’s just the world I live in, it’s just what it is, but you can survive it, and you can come through it. I wanted to do this and be a female in this industry to have the capability of having a voice."
Although Rita is very much committed to ruling the charts with her new music and playing arenas she is interested in expanding her horizon and helping people less fortunate than her.
Her philanthropy was sparked by a trip to Africa to help disadvantaged kids.
She said: "I went to Africa and met kids who lived in villages that have no clue what goes on and other things, like eating and living with their family. And I just looked at life in such a completely different way. And so I just look at things differently and I wanted to be a voice to people."
The 27-year-old singer is also working with Absolut on a campaign called The Open Mic Project which has seen her pen a song using fan lyrics called ‘Proud’ which will be released in Grammys week.
Rita was very excited to take on the songwriting challenge because she gets to share her fans’ powerful stories.
She said: "When they then told me it was from fans and people that usually don’t have a voice or the light to shine their stories on, I was like, ‘This is just perfect, because then I can write a tune, a song about their stories.’ I did and it’s called ‘Proud’, and it’s an amazing record. I got even closer to my fans. I could almost speak for them, which I found really powerful. This song is from real people’s stories that aren’t in the limelight, that probably have more inspiring stories than headlines that we read nowadays. And I feel like that is just so more important toward the world."
Rita Ora has had to live with scrutiny
