It Took Just Four Days for Rita Ora to Apologise to the LGBTQI Community for New Song “Girls”

"Sometimes I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls."

Rita Ora, of "Anywhere" fame, has issued an apology for her latest song, "Girls"; this time, precisely because people could understand what she was singing.

The tune—also featuring Cardi B, Charli XCX and Bebe Rexha—debuted just last Friday, and was immediately met with widespread scorn and derision for allegedly "exploiting bisexuality". (Needless to say, it's not being showered in the progressive acclaim of Charli's previous instalment, "Boys".)

Each of the female performers sing about a same-sex encounter, with Ora mentioning a relationship with a girl named Lara and Cardi wondering whether she should "French a girl from Great Britain."

The chorus, most controversially, says, "red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls," which particularly angered openly queer artist Hayley Kiyoko, who called it "tone-deaf".

"A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalising the idea of women loving women," she wrote on Twitter, with an apparent "knot in her stomach".

"I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls; I’ve loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community."

Kehlani, who even worked with Cardi B on her debut album, also called the lyrics "harmful".

and don’t make this personal.

i have an incredible song out with one of the artists, and would love to work with the other three as well. & have met them all and respect them.

there. were. harmful. lyrics.
period. love y’all. 🤗

— Kehlani (@Kehlani) May 11, 2018

But in a message today, Ora has apologised, saying "I would never intentionally cause harm to other LGBTQ+ people or anyone."

In the tweet, she revealed that "Girls" was written to represent her "truth", adding, "I have had romantic relationship with women and men throughout my life and this is my personal journey."

Last June, she told the outlet #legend that her upcoming song "Girls" is not actually about liking girls.

"It is called 'Girls' because I have features with my actual friends on it," she explained.

Who knows if the song changed between then and now; but clearly, that old explanation doesn't gel with the released version of the tune.

It’s never a good sign when an artist has to apologise for their song within a week of release, but it’s yet to be seen if that’ll keep "Girls" from the top of the charts (which might have otherwise been a given, thanks to its collective star power).

We now await an apology from Charli XCX for saying "the 'bu" instead of Malibu.

Photo: Atlantic