Review: Rita Ora's 'Ora' Debut A Bust

After almost a year of hype and high-anticipation, the first full length release from British singer-songwriter, Rita Ora, has made it's way into the hands of fans and curious music lovers all over the net. 

I immediately felt something was amiss with the release of "How We Do (Party)" in the United States. Not that it is a bad song, but as I stated many, many times, it's a complete rehash of so many Friday night drinking anthems like Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (TGIF)." Bad first single choice aside, I could have never forecast that this album would end up so heinously mishandled. 

The biggest issue is how thin the LP is stretched. The roster behind putting this album together is filled with top-notch producers, Greg Kurstin, Diplo and Fraser T. Smith, and writers, James Fauntleroy, Ester Dean and Terius Nash, all of whom have worked on some of the greatest music projects this year. Logically, you would expect this album to be dynamite. Instead, it seems each producer pulled Ora in a completely different direction and failed to capture any aspect of her personality. 4 out of every 5 tracks on the album are generic trash. The songs that most top pop stars would normally leave behind in the demo stages of creating an album seemed to have made it to the final product that is Ora. Rita Ora, her label and her management all settled for an album that lacks cohesiveness and originality. It was exhausting listening to this album all the way through without skipping nearly every song after 30 seconds. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume the tracks were laid before Rita recorded her vocals and there was no further mastering after she did so. "Fall In Love," the will.i.am produced track, could have been a great opportunity for massive radio success, but her computerized vocals become incessantly annoying as she recklessly tosses in amateur ad-libs.

The album isn't a complete waste though. The album does have some great beats, including "Fall In Love." The stand out track on the album, "Crazy Girl" and the intro "Facemelt" are the album's triumphs. "Crazy Girl" is perfectly tailored with a build up and peak that doesn't blow out your speakers, but still has a very clubby vibe that makes it irresistible. "Young, Single and Sexy" is  also a stand-out track, but is too consistent with the R&B breakup fad that Beyoncé and Rihanna helped popularize half a decade ago with "Irreplaceable" and "Take A Bow." 

Bottom Line: For the amount of hype behind her, this has to be one of the most tragically mishandled albums of the year. Especially from a new artist.