Praise you
They fell in love in Sydney, so it’s fitting to shoot Rita Ora and Taika Waititi for their first cover together against the backdrop of our glittering harbour. On the eve of Ora’s first album in five years, entertainment’s new power couple open up to Jessica Montague about their life together as best friends and now, creative collaborators.
The day Rita Ora and Taika Waititi were due to shoot for Vogue Australia, all weather forecasts reported rain. Not just any rain, either. An unpredictable torrential downpour; a rain bomb, even. And yet, by some sheer meteorological miracle, for the most part the sun shone brightly across Sydney’s eastern suburbs before the heavens opened up mere moments after wrapping.
It was not just fortuitous but fitting that the weather gods played nice for Ora and Waititi’s first shoot together. The two, who wed last year and recently stunned on the red carpet at the Met Gala in matching Atelier Prabal Gurung, are all warmth and laughter – nonstop banter, jokes and good times – their joint positivity attracting the best in everyone and every situation wherever they go. (“Rita’s such a pro at knowing her angles,” jokes Waititi. “She’s got a lot more poses than I have. I’ve got about four poses and three expressions.”)
The Kosovo-born British singer, 32, and award-winning Kiwi writer and director, 47, enjoyed a years-long friendship after being introduced by Robert Pattinson at a barbecue Waititi was hosting in LA. But it was a matter of right place (Sydney), right time (2021) when they finally got together. Ora was here shooting her first season as a judge on The Voice; Waititi was in town directing Thor: Love & Thunder at Fox Studios.
Two years on, the husband and wife are having a major full-circle moment and not just because they’re being photographed in the city that was their romantic backdrop. Next month marks the release of Ora’s third studio album, You & I, which threads together the narrative of their love story, track by track. It emerged from a period of intense concentrated change for the singer, who has garnered more than 10 billion streams and holds the record for the most top 10 singles by a British female artist at 13 and counting. Not only did Ora hit her 30s with a big new love in her life, but also a new record deal with BMG that gives her ownership of all her master recordings. She’s taken artistic control like never before.