Calvin Harris denies producing an unreleased Rita Ora album

Calvin Harris has shut down rumours that he produced an album for Rita Ora that never saw the light of day.

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Ora was recently interviewed by Louis Theroux for his new BBC Two series Louis Theroux Interviews… and was asked about what happened to all the music she had recorded, including a second album that was meant for release under Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation. The singer took the label to court in 2015 to be released from her contract on the grounds the firm had neglected her. Roc Nation countersued and a settlement was reached in 2016.

Writer George Griffiths, who works for the Official Charts Company, described this on Twitter as his “own personal Princess Diana Newsnight moment”, arguing that “if rita’s calvin harris produced second album (i will never let you down was the first of MANY tracks) hadn’t been torpedoed she would have probably been one of the biggest pop stars in the world for like 2 years, i have never gotten over it.”

Harris replied to the tweet – “Entire thing is a myth, there is one unreleased song i worked on and it isn’t good.”

louis theroux interviewing rita ora and asking about her cancelled second roc nation album???? this is my own personal princess diana newsnight moment

— george griffiths (@georgegriffiths) November 26, 2022

Ora told Theroux she had been recording for “two or three years straight” before Roc Nation shelved plans to release her second album. “There was a whole moment that was about to happen, I recorded a music video and they scrapped it. I felt really disappointed like I’d let them down.”

Theroux also brought up the rumours that Ora had a feud with Rihanna. “It’s been reported that all the music was going to Rihanna – she was obviously the most established artist – she was getting first refusal on all the music and she’d sit on songs that had been written,” he said. “Either way the result was you couldn’t get a look at it and she had a problem with you.”

“I can’t speak for other people but I think publicly they always put women against each other,” Ora replied. “I’ve been nothing but a fan and respectful of her and I always will be.”

Meanwhile, Harris was announced earlier this week as one of the headliners of Creamfields South 2023, which will be taking place in Chelmsford, Essex, during the late May bank holiday weekend (May 26-28).

The post Calvin Harris denies producing an unreleased Rita Ora album appeared first on NME.