Like Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey, Rita Ora has embraced her inner goddess.
The singer plays Christian Grey's sister in the movie, but as she reveals in NYLON's March 2015 issue, she's also hard at work on her music. "It was a process to be like, 'F--k it! I'm just gonna be me.' With the first album, I was so hyped up to be signed with Jay Z. I was like, 'Whatever! Jay f--kin' Z!' Two, three years later, I was like, 'You know what? People are actually interested in what I'm saying and how I'm dressing and how I'm acting.'" Her sophomore album will be a bit sexier than her debut. "It's like, 'Yeah, I grew up and I looked at my arse, and it got a bit bigger and I'm sexier now.' Might as well flaunt it!" the "How We Do" singer explains. "I feel more womanly."
"I wanted the album to be dark and sexy, but still approachable, because I'm not a dark person."
Ora's album was delayed following her breakup with Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris.
"I had a breakup, or whatever, and it really made me realize what I was trying to do. I had been fixated on this love fantasy, but really it wasn't like that, and I had to take myself back. For me, this was my moment where I had to be real and tell the truth and be honest," the singer recalls. "I love my pop songs, and I'm still gonna be pop, but this has just got a lot more depth to it."
Ora has a strong support system, and she's the first to champion "independent, successful women." In fact, the "Never Let You Down" singer says, "I've always been really outspoken it, like telling another woman, 'You killed it.' I don't think a lot of females do that these days, especially in this industry." She adds, "It's the same with all of my friends—with [Charli XCX], with [Iggy Azalea], with [Cara Delevingne] and Katy Perry, who's an amazing person inside and out and so talented, the biggest star in the world. She's always been the same, and she's just so funny and fun and loud and really cool. I'm like, 'Yeah! That's what I wanna be like! I wanna stay that way!' You've gotta really be sacred with these friendships, 'cause people can corrupt them."
The feeling is mutual.
"Rita Ora the person is the same as Rita Ora the artist. She's real and wild and fun and caring and kind," Charli XCX raves. "I have so much respect for her and the way she is in the world."
Ora is inspired by other women in the industry, too.
The pop star argues that the fashion world, in particular, "needs confidence. It needs a massive boost. It needs a kind of, like, 'F--k you.' It needs another Madonna...which it's not gonna get. But it needs a person who takes chances. You have amazing girls like Emma Watson—glamorous, gorgeous, clean, beautiful girls," Ors says. "But where's that punk energy? That fun, crazy, respected but still like, 'S--t, she's just doing her thing' person? That's who I am!"
NYLON's March 2015 issue hits newsstands Feb. 24.