What Led To Rita Ora And Calvin Harris' Split?
Although pop star Rita Ora is now married to Taika Waititi, she was once in a relationship with DJ Calvin Harris. Harris, who later had a high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift, got together with Ora in May 2013. Like all couples, their relationship had its highs and lows. In January 2014, the pair broke up seemingly only for a few weeks. A few months later, they released a hit single, "I Will Never Let You Down."
However, by June 2014, Harris tweeted that their relationship was over, saying (via the BBC), "To address speculation — myself and Rita ended our relationship some time ago. She is a beautiful, talented woman and I wish her all the best." While Harris did not disclose the reason for the breakup, HuffPost UK reported that sources told The Sun that Harris ended things because he desired a lowkey relationship.
The source explained, "She [Ora] was constantly posting snaps of her with other groups of friends and her trip to Mexico and photos of her with Khalil were the final straw." They added, "Calvin likes more privacy than Rita and he hated the extra attention that came with being her boyfriend."
Moreover, the source said that Ora did not know that Harris would tweet about the end of their relationship. Unfortunately, things only got uglier between the two post-split.
Rita Ora's side of the story
Before their break up, Rita Ora and Calvin Harris' "I Will Never Let You Down" climbed the charts and became a hit in the UK. Ora was set to perform the song at the Teen Choice Awards in August 2014, but that never happened. Speaking to Ryan Seacrest, Ora praised Harris but explained that her ex owns the rights to the song and that he unexpectedly prevented her from performing it. When Seacrest asked why, Ora said he should ask Calvin, but later noted that there were no hard feelings.
Harris subsequently replied to this interview on Twitter, saying (via HuffPost UK), "You'll only know 1 side of the story RE Teen choice awards because I choose not to talk to the papers about every aspect of my personal life." However, Harris did not elaborate on why he blocked Ora's performance. That month, Just Jared reported that Ora touched on her breakup with Harris in Glamour UK, hinting that their careers were to blame.
A year after their split, Ora opened up about the demise of their relationship with Marie Claire. She told the publication, "I was at that point in my relationship where I felt he could do no wrong. I thought he had my back and that he'd never steer me wrong. But then 'I Will Never Let You Down' came out, and everything started to go a bit weird. I don't know if it was because business was mixed with personal or what."
Did Calvin Harris delay Rita Ora's sophomore album?
In 2017, Rita Ora and Calvin Harris decided to put the past behind them. According to The Sun, a source told the publication that Harris had granted Ora, who was then working on her second album, permission to perform "I Will Never Let You Down." However, Ora's second album faced numerous delays, and it was later reported that this was because Harris was allegedly involved with the project. In November 2022, Ora did an interview with Louis Theroux and explained that her former label Roc Nation had scrapped a lot of her work, per Yahoo.
Although she did not mention Harris, this revelation led writer George Griffiths to tweet, "a reminder 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 ended up replying to this tweet, writing, "Entire thing is a myth, there is one unreleased song i worked on and it isn't good." In an interview with GQ, a journalist asked Ora about Griffith's tweet and Harris' response. Ora told the publication, "That sounds so funny. I guess it's just each to their own story. I've got my own and I've said it already. I said it eight or nine years ago. We're in such a different place now."