Cara Delevingne has defended her friend, Rita Ora, insisting she “did nothing wrong” on her current single, ‘Girls’.
Earlier this month, Rita created a lot of debate when she released ‘Girls’, featuring Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha and Cardi B, on which she’s heard singing: “Sometimes I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls, red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls.”
When the lyrics were accused of perpetuating negative stereotypes and playing up to the male gaze, Rita insisted the song was written about her own “honest experiences”, having had “relationships with women and men throughout her life”.
She also apologised for having “hurt” people with the way she expressed herself, but in an interview with Paper magazine, Cara said she didn’t feel the apology was necessary.
Cara explained: “She didn’t need to apologise. She did nothing wrong. She should be able to come forth and say, ‘This is the way I did this and I’m going to keep on singing this song because it’s a great song.’ It came from the right intention and that’s what’s most important.”
She continued: “ I love Rita. I think she’s a wonderful artist and I always support her in what she does.
“I don’t think it’s right to say her experience and her words are wrong. If she hadn’t ever felt that way and it wasn’t true then that would be weird. She’s being proud of something and saying it… she’s being honest about something she may not have been comfortable before. I don’t think it’s wrong.
“And people disagreeing with it and being vocal... no one’s ever going to fully back one thing that happens. There’s always going to be a conversation. It’s why you make music, or movies, so people can talk about it. That’s the point.”
At the height of Rita and Cara’s close public friendship, there was speculation in the media the two may have been romantically involved, with the ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ singer claiming they deliberately never addressed these rumours as they didn’t feel they were important.
Since the controversy arose over ‘Girls’, Cardi B has also addressed the backlash on social media, insisting: “We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song.
“I personally myself had experiences with other woman, shiieeett with a lot of [women]!
“I [thought] the song was a good song and i remember my experience.”