"R.I.P." was the UK lead single from Ora's album, as well as her second solo single since being signed to Roc Nation. The song was written by Canadian artist Drake, and originally intended for Rihanna. There is a remix of the song that actually features Drake singing and rapping along with Ora. The song was also co-written by Farhad Samadzada, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Nneka Egbuna, Renee Wisdom, Saul Milton, William Kennard. She also felt releasing it as her first UK solo single would be a good career move: "As a new artist wanting to make a statement, I definitely felt a confidence-boost would be the way forward. Which is why, as soon as I heard 'R.I.P.', I loved the message behind it." The song was co-produced by English duo Chase & Status and Stargate. It was later revealed that the rapper Tinie Tempah would feature on the track titled "R.I.P." In an interview Ora spoke on why she choose to have Tinie Tempah on the album: "Having Tinie on there and working with him is so great because I'm from the UK, I listen to UK music and I really wanted him to be a part of it. His flow just killed it on the beat". The song samples Chase & Status' remix of Nigerian singer Nneka's 2008 hit "Heartbeat". The song was released through digital download to Ireland on 4 May 2012 and to the United Kingdom on 6 May 2012, and was also sent to mainstream radio's in the United States on 25, April 2012. Ora described the single as "a synthy, dubstep-flavoured banger."
Critical reception
The song received generally positive reviews from music critics. MTV described the composition of the song as "a synth-laden club track" and said that Ora's vocals were "lush and sultry."
Chart performance
"R.I.P." debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with sales of 104,592 and became the seventh fastest selling single of 2012 in one single week behind Carly Rae Jepsen, Tulisa, DJ Fresh and herself, Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa, Gary Barlow and Cheryl Cole. The song remained at number one in the UK for two weeks but only one week in Scotland. The song sold 453,000 copies in the UK in 2012, and was the 28th best-selling single of the year.
Music video
Background
The video for the single was shot in Hackney, East London. The video was uploaded on to Ora's official VEVO on 4 April 2012. The video was directed by Emil Nava. Ora released a 36-second teaser of the video and uploaded it to her official VEVO on 2 April 2012. She also released behind the scenes footage of her and Tinie Tempah onto the internet.
Synopsis
The video begins with Ora walking through a dark room with window light, then a head shot of Ora singing directly to the camera. Ora then carries on to dance around the garage and around cars. Tinie Tempah is stood next to her, rapping to the camera while she dances back to back with him. The video then carries on in the same synopsis of Ora dancing in the garage or on cars with Tinie Tempah making small appearances. On the beat provided by Nneka, a silhouette of a man dances center of the garage. A car cut in half is used in the video to give the illusion that the front is embedded in the cement of the building's foundation.
Reception
Rap-Up described the video saying "flaunts her drop-dead gorgeous looks, impeccable swag, and beanie collection as she dances on top of customized cars in a grungy warehouse. Her British pal Tinie Tempah injects some attitude, while Rita bites the bullet—literally—in the in-your-face clip". PopCrush noted that "Tinie Tempah shows up for the first few moments, then steps aside for the most part in order to let Rita do her thing. However, their scenes together crackle!" MTV reviewed the video saying "Not much goes on in the 'R.I.P.' video except for tons of vanity shots of Rita looking exceptionally hot Sure, a plotline in a music video is always a good idea, but when you've got a scorching record and two extremely attractive people in the same room, there's really not much else to do except to watch them be hot". Idolator gave the video a very negative review saying "this is ridiculous. In the video for her single 'R.I.P.', British singer Rita Ora comes off like a second-hand Rihanna, from her wardrobe to the Talk That Talk-cribbing song itself".
Live performances
Ora performed "R.I.P." live in studio for 4Music's show The Crush, with a live band. Ora also performed the song at Drake's Club Paradise Tour in Manchester at the M.E.N. Arena. In April Ora sang a live acoustic version of the song on Wired 95.6 radio in Philadelphia and also prior to an interview on the BBC3 coverage for Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hackney, London in June.
