Music Review: Rita Ora "Facemelt"

Rita Ora

Facemelt

Album: Ora

Year: 2013

             It’s a song called “Facemelt.” I can’t not do it.

              Rita Ora claims she’s buzzworthy in the paltry “Facemelt.”

           The arresting “Brap” sample by Bart B Moore, opens the single, setting an artificial tone. As she drives in the car with her boyfriend, she tells him to stop the car. She wants to pleasure him right now. He says she’s crazy. She’s bouncing on the seat. He asks her if she wants some Ecstasy. She shakes her head no. She says that she has charisma. People usually ask about her when they see, wanting to know who she is. (“Unbuckle seatbelt, same to  waistbelt/You say I’m sick, I need a Vix, I need a DayQuil/Hotter than a fever, can't stay still/I don't need an E pill, just need a refill/I’m the kind of the heat that'll make the fucking place melt/Got the nebula/For your spaceship/Last time in it, in it, in it make the place melt/Feelin' like it's burning up, now you know how they felt.”)

          She continues by trying to get everyone to calm down. Then she shrugs it off, telling them to do whatever they want. (“I know what you came for, but please please be careful/My little daredevils, yeah/We might as well jump!”)

           In the final section, she says the beat is hot. (“This is the kinda beat that'll make ya make ya, make ya face melt/Make ya face melt, make ya make ya face melt/This is the kinda beat that'll make ya make ya face melt/Make ya face melt, make ya make ya face melt/This is the kinda beat that’ll make ya make ya face melt.”)

           Ora’s flagrant vocals bluff through the section, daring them to read their credits. However, with a beat that isn’t hers to begin with, it nullifies her bragging.

         The metaphor may sound cool. But it’s one of those that once it’s thought about, it becomes unnerving. Her beat will cause someone to be disfigured, suffocate, and die a brutul death. Same for the spaceship menton. She’s saying people died due to her sound. She may as well be auditioning for a role as a killer on the week on a crime procedural.

             The nightmarish “Facemelt” missed the violent imagery element, not realizing how demented it actually is.