Rita Ora on Calvin Harris: Long-distance relationship makes me sad but you make it work
They may have topped the charts together this week but Rita Ora and her DJ boyfriend Calvin Harris spend much of their time on different continents.
The globe-trotting stars – at number one with their collaboration I Will Never Let You Down – have spent large portions of their year-long relationship apart.
While Rita has been busy promoting the single – the first from her as yet untitled second album – in the UK, Calvin has been DJing 4,000 miles away in Florida.
Yet distance is no obstacle for the loved-up couple.
“You have to fly each other out, you just have to,” Rita says matter-of-factly. “Sometimes you fly for 20 hours, sometimes you only fly for five hours. It’s an effort, but you make it work.
“I’m not a fan of long distance relationships. If you had a choice, you want that person with you. It makes me pretty sad. But you work with what you’ve got.”
The Kosovo-born star, 23, became accustomed to such difficulties at an early age. Her mother, Vera, fled the family home in war-torn Pristina in 1991, bringing one-year-old Rita with her.
“My dad stayed in Kosovo while my mum moved me and the kids here,” Rita says. “If they can do it – and they’re still married – then ours is a piece of p***.
If you really want something, you’ll make it work. I’m so happy for all the success Calvin has. He’s a creative, amazing individual, the last thing I want is to get in bet-ween that.”
In fact with the success both of them have had, who’s to argue?
Dumfries-born DJ Calvin made chart history last summer, becoming the first artist to land nine top 10 singles from one album, 18 Months. And according to Forbes, the 30-year-old was also the world’s highest paid DJ, raking in £27million.
Meanwhile Rita has broken new ground herself. Since signing to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, she’s had four UK number ones, tying with Geri Halliwell for most chart-topping singles by a solo British woman.
But Rita admits she was initially reluctant to go into the studio with her man.
“I thought it was a bad idea. I said, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen, babe.’ All that political s***, I didn’t want to think about it. But when we started to write, it happened so naturally it felt right.
“We do have creative differences but we both have the same goal, which is that we want great songs.”
Rita was also a little worried I Will Never Let You Down was too revealing, playing out their romance in front of the public.
“There was a moment when we were like, you know, we’re both known,” admits Rita.
“It could become difficult. This message, I won’t let you down, is a message of hope. It’s the little reality that we do have left in this... thing,” she motions a “fame bubble” with her hands. “Whatever you want to call it.”
Rita is no stranger to the celebrity circuit. Since bursting on to the scene in 2012 with debut hit Hot Right Now she has signed lucrative deals with Adidas, Rimmel and is the face of Madonna’s daughter Lourdes’ clothing line.
She has even landed a role in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.
Unlike other stars, she is being incredibly sensible with her money, setting up a family business, run by her sister Elena.
She’s also made canny investments. “I have a few properties, some in the UK, some in the States, some in Kosovo,” she reveals. “It’s a nice little empire – I’m trying to create something so my family can be all right.”
Her canny attitude to cash was partly instilled by business savvy dad Besnik.
He’s smart, he sees things before they happen. It was my dad’s idea to change my name from Sahatciu to Ora. He said it would be easier to pronounce,” she explains.
Arriving in the UK as refugees, the family faced prejudice and didn’t have much money. Mum Vera worked as a waitress and studied to become a psychiatrist. When dad Besnik joined the family he bought a pub, the Queens Arms in Kilburn, North London.
“My childhood was great, my family was great. I wasn’t in a mansion but we made it work,” says the singer, named after her film director grandad Besim’s favourite film star Rita Hayworth.
“We’re Kosovans. We’re very patriotic and very proud of everything we do. My mum said make sure you do something that you’re proud of,” Rita says.
Despite being urged to pursue her education, her first love was always music and she won a place at London’s Sylvia Young Theatre School.
She goes on: “I was from a very traditional family that made me study so music was not happening. My parents were like ‘that’s not going to get you a degree’ but I couldn’t stop doing it.
“Long story short, I started to write songs for people and I sang at a funfair when I was 14 and there was a producer there. He said ‘you should come to the studio and write and sing some songs’.
“I signed a deal for two years which was stupid money. I would say like five grand for two years – which is not a good deal if anyone is getting offered a deal.”
But it fell through at about the same time as her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and Rita was hit hard.
She says: “My mum had always been one of those free-spirited women and her being ill was really confusing for me. I was really down.”
Still, she refused to give up on her dream of making a living from music. “I started singing at pubs and bars. I’d sing anywhere that would have me and lie about my age.
It is all these little steps that make a difference. At the time you think it is hell because no one is listening to you and no one cares. It was a moment in my life when I was scared and thought ‘what am I gonna do?’.
“Thankfully I started to write with a producer I knew and honestly it saved me because I didn’t know I could write music – before that I wrote poems.”
But since finding success, Rita says that sadly she’s lost friends after some started acting differently around her.
“I have had some that you don’t even recognise any more,” she says. “It can be scary when people start to act weird around you. They even ask if they can go to the toilet.
"People say ‘Rita has changed’ but we are supposed to change. You have a career to change for the better and to succeed.
“It’s not your job to persuade friends that you are the same. They have to accept I am going to change because I am working my b****y arse off.
“But you shouldn’t worry about it, you should worry about your album and your shows.”
She adds: “I know it is a bit selfish but everyone deserves to be selfish.”
Still, despite all this, Rita is keen to give something back and has become an ambassador for Unicef with the aim of helping her home nation of Kosovo.
“I feel like I’ve been put here for a reason. I love singing live and performing, but I feel like I’ve got a power to help a nation. Why wouldn’t I?”
- Rita is performing at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Glasgow, broadcast live on Radio 1 tomorrow and Sunday. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend .
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