[Single Review] Rita Ora – Party & Bullshit

Roc Nation’s freshest face Rita Ora wasn’t supposed to drop her debut single –a Drake-penned urban ballad called “R.I.P.”– for another two weeks, but it looks like there’s been a last minute change.

Both Rita and Jay-Z made a surprise stopover at New York’s Z100 earlier today to premiere what has now become Rita’s debut single, “Party & Bullshit”.

And just in case you were wondering: no, it isn’t a remake of the Biggie classic, but after hearing the song in full, I kinda wish that it was.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting Rita Ora’s first single to sound like, but it certainly wasn’t this. Roc Nation are gunning for the Top Forty with this one, enlisting Bonnie McKee and Miami-based duo The Runners to craft a sunny summer song that sounds a lot like “Party In The USA” meets Katy Perry. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s not particularly very interesting.

Pop superstars like Katy, Ke$ha, and Lady GaGa all debuted with a distinct style and sound that you knew was all theirs straight away, no matter how commercial their songs may have been. As for Rita, “Party & Bullshit” sounds like something Jessie J would put out, and with music like this, that’s exactly who Rita is going to become – a mid-tier female who’s never quite going to break into the big leagues. She already looks like Rihanna-lite as it is, in the same way that Roc Nation labelmate Alexis Jordan has always been Beyonce-lite.

Despite Rita’s exotic good looks and blonde hair (which I’m oddly fascinated with), I never really bought into the hype, and now I know why. “Party & Bullshit” is enjoyable and I won’t change the station if it comes on, but as for Rita being the next big thing, I’m still not convinced.

Score: 3/5

This entry was posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 12:13 am and is filed under New Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • woohoo

    its a grower. believe me. the music video is gunna be adorable i bet

  • DRB

    “I don’t know exactly what I was expecting…..but this isn’t it.” Those were my thoughts when I heard this. If you’re gonna debut, come out hard and more importantly, distinctive. This is so safe and cliche at this point. I expected more, now I hardly care. Hopefully the Drake record is better and sees the light of day soon.

  • K5

    Nothing special. It’s just a by-the-numbers Katy Perry disposable song. -yawn-

  • http://twitter.com/curdey Michael Curd

    I’ve heard this song before..? Did this leak as a demo a while back?? I’m definitely sure Ive heard it before, but it sounded more rough and interesting before :/ Disappointed, she seemed really cute on teh WotYouGot interview..

  • KoreanDream

    Hot Right Now should have been HER single, because this is not going to do anything for her, and nor is RIP based off the fact that it’s supposed to be urban and a ballad.

  • Carly

    R.I.P will serve as her debut single in the UK! She said in an interview, written by Drake and produced by Stargate and Chase N Status featuring Tinie Tempah.

    This is catchy and a great pop song but Jay-Z should have just taken a risk and released R.I.P with the original Drake verse for the US

  • Matthew

    Ah, God. I totally agree with the review. This isn’t a great song – not by any stretch. Just another generic pop song concocted solely for radio. I mean, it sounds nice, but it just sounds like her voice and she herself could make something so much more beautiful. 

  • SerferTJ

    wow.
    http://lh6.ggpht.com/_CCE-k4HwRAY/TFX7-cCrE-I/AAAAAAAACEY/zc5KFRvPA-0/10cvk03.gif
    Basic, unimaginative, could have been sung by any artist, etc….

    With these new singles from Katy, Nicki, Chris, Madonna, and now Rita, it’s safe to say that 2012 is turning into the most BASIC year in music!

  • http://thehomosocial.com/ Petey Pete

    Its a nice track, I agreed 100% with the review on listening for the first time but after taking the morning to give it a few spins it grows.

    Its a nice summer song, its feel good and something you’d turn up when on the radio.

    Granted its not groundbreaking but neither are any of Katy Perry’s mega number 1 hit singles…

  • http://twitter.com/charliekelso Charlie Kelso

    this sounds like a katy perry song (not a teenage dream, a part of me). Actually this is almost as ordinary as Jessie J.

  • Barf

    it’s a grower, but it could’ve been sung by anybody, really.  this doesn’t show us why Rita should be the next big thing.  still, I really like it.  Bonnie McKee shows us all how to write a pop song yet again.

  • Barbudo

    I am super pissed that we can only hear the crap clean version rather than the one with an extra syllable in the fucking hook for the song. Way to ruin it, world premiere.

  • Jawon

    Pixie Lott will run circles around this chick!…
    I don’t see or hear star quality….
    She is pretty tho but does look lile a rihanna clone and I totally agree with the jessie j part.

  • http://twitter.com/BOBBYADAN Bobby

    Sounds like a nice Max Martin GLEE original. I like it.

  • Moua

    funny that jayz himself came to premiere the new single….is he trying to replace riri already??LOL

  • kbay

    this will grow on us as soon as the video gets released…because she is fuckin sexy! 

  • http://twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    The bummer here is that you’ve got another pretty face with nothing to sell but sex. I agree with the Proph’s review and have pretty much ignored Rita on my own site thus far, simply because there’s nothing that pops yet. This single is another extremely generic rip. It feels like she’s a demo singer that should be sending this track off to Rihanna or Katy Perry. 

    Don’t get me wrong, I like her voice quite a bit. But she’s going to fall right into the typical pop bracket and that’s the bummer. I feel like this type of immature music is specifically aimed at tweens and early college aged kids, and once they age out, there’s no more sales. So the next logical step for the pop-star is to become a shock star like Rihanna in hopes of keeping sales. Even Ri’s shock factor though isn’t helping her sales to stay the same. 

    Rita should look at musical styles like Kelly Clarkson or Alicia Keys. These women don’t do diamond sales status on every record, but they manage to maintain solid numbers because they cross over the age barriers successfully. 

  • http://twitter.com/HyunAKnowles HyunA Knowles

    I like it. I’ve been craving for some Top 40 tunes for the past week so this song is alright for me. Catchy enough. 

    (Starships is still the shittiest yet catchiest song now)

  • xx

    Why do most songs on Top 40 sound like they are coming from Dr. Luke’s hand? Smh.

  • Dangnz1

    How can someone be Rihanna-lite when Rihanna is lite?

  • Renamonet

    This song is ok but doesn’t have a new sound and she will never take rhianna’s edge and her style , she has too many fans that love her@ theirs only one rhianna ! Just like theirs only one Janet!

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