Rita Ora writes new song using fans' lyrics

Written by . Published: December 13 2017

Rita Ora has outsourced songwriting duties to her fans by asking them to write lyrics for her new single.


Fans of the popstar contributed all the lyrics to new song Proud, which will be released next year (18).

"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,” she told Britain's Daily Star newspaper.

Rita recorded the fan-led track for The Open Mic Project, an initiative in which she's partnering with bosses at Absolut Vodka to encourage people to share details about their lives.

Explaining her decision to get involved with the project, she added: "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'."

Proud, which will be released the same week as the Grammy Awards in January, isn't the only musical collaboration Rita has in the works; the R.I.P. singer has also teamed up with fellow Brit Charli XCX and Bebe Rexha on a track called Girls, which is scheduled for release early next year.

And the 27-year-old star teased the trio will be joined by even more famous females on the track and its video.

"I have a really cool song called Girls that has all my girls in the industry that I'm friends with, that I love," she told The Sun newspaper. "And they're on the video, too. It's going to be all about the females."

Charli previously released single Boys in July, which featured an all-star video line-up, including Joe Jonas, Riz Ahmed and Charlie Puth.

Rita's comeback album, her first in nearly six years, is also due out in 2018.