Rita Ora on reworking Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You,” why he approved it

In just a few weeks Rita Ora‘s third studio album You & I will be here. 

The album is preceded by three singles, “You Only Love Me”, “Don’t Think Twice” and “Praising You” — the latter of which topped the Billboard‘s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. “Praising You” is a re-worked version of Fatboy Slim‘s 1998 song “Praise You” and Ora tells ABC Audio why she wanted to rework it. 

“I think having the ability to experiment with this album was really cool. I just really wanted to go back to why I love music … And I think for me it was like dance music’s just always been in my life,” the British singer-songwriter explains. “Like everything I’ve done from growing up in the club scene, in the LGBTQIA+ community and like, really feeling accepted and kind of, just remembering dance music being that connector.”

“‘Praise You’ was a huge song for us, especially out of the U.K. and Norman Cook a.k.a Fatboy Slim like, he’s from the U.K. so I just thought it was a really cool, nostalgic moment to bring something from the nineties into now,” she adds.

Ora also gave some insight into why she believes Fatboy signed off on her reworking the iconic track, sharing, “I think he was genuinely impressed because I really did my homework. I didn’t ask him to really go out of his way. And then I was like, ‘Listen, it’s okay if you don’t want to do it. But like, here’s what we did.'”

“I think he just kind of really felt flattered and he appreciated the time that went into song,” Ora, 32, shares, adding that she “couldn’t believe it” when he said yes. 

“It was really, really an amazing moment,” Ora says.

You & I drops July 14. 

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