Rita Ora delivered a dazzling rendition of “Let You Love Me” on The Tonight Show Tuesday, while she also sat down with Jimmy Fallon to discus her new album Phoenix and play a round of “One Word Songs.”
Ora’s performance of “Let You Love Me” opened with the British pop star moving through the song’s subdued intro with an added bit of gloom. But as Ora finished the first verse, she cut the anguish on her face with a big grin before launching into the joyous “Let You Love Me” hook, while the screens beside her began to flash in brilliant colors and patterns.
Prior to her performance, Ora sat down with Fallon for an interview, during which he enlisted her for a round of “One Word Songs,” a modified version of “Name That Tune,” in which each player is tasked with singing a song using one random word.
The game opened with Fallon singing Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left to Cry” with the word “weasel,” after which Ora was tasked with conveying the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” only she didn’t recognize the word she’d been given – “tuba.” The gaffe led to an impromptu bit in which Fallon scolded Roots tuba player Tuba Gooding, Jr. (real name Damon Bryson) as he walked dejectedly off the stage.
Elsewhere in her interview with Fallon, Ora spoke about why she decided to call her new album Phoenix and the time she flummoxed her fans when she performed an entire show dressed as Post Malone.
“I literally did a concert and they didn’t clap because they were like, ‘Who is this weird human being on stage?’” Ora recalled. “I had to talk in the mic and still they didn’t believe me! And then I had to sing, and they were like, “Ok fine, we believe you.’ I was like, ‘What kind of hardcore fans are these?’”