\u201cLet You Love Me\u201d<\/a>\u00a0set to acoustic guitar is a delight. Without all the clutter, it\u2019s a folk-pop song about the bittersweetness of following your heart. And 28-year-old British star can really belt. Her voice adds a dimension of personality that, in the original, gets flattened for the sake of the dance floor.<\/p>\nOra is better known for feel-good party jams like \u201cR.I.P.\u201d and \u201cI Will Never Let You Down\u201d; for being the red-lipped big-voice next to outsize personalities like Charli XCX, Iggy Azalea and even Snoop Dogg. So\u00a0Phoenix<\/i>, her triumphant second album with \u201cLet You Love Me\u201d on it, is a kind of re-introduction. Ora took the Robyn route of Big Introspective Pop: breathy hooks hewn to after-the-club confessions, all reconciled in a steady, thumping chorus. In the mix of instantly-hummable pop songs, \u201cLet You Love Me\u201d stands out with an undeniable beat and strangely appealing\u00a0pronunciation of \u201cvul-nah-ruh-bull.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song\u2019s release was also a career milestone. It was Ora\u2019s thirteenth top-ten hit in the U.K., the most top-ten hits of any British woman in Official Charts history, knocking out Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark, who had 12 each. But more interesting is that of Ora\u2019s 13 hits, \u201cLet You Love Me\u201d is only one of two where she is the only singer on a song she helped write. You could argue that makes \u201cLet You Love Me\u201d her most independent track. When she sings it without all the studio accoutrements, she really (excuse the pun) soars. Would this authentic, acoustic rendition have rocketed to the U.K. Top Ten? Probably not. But it might resonate with the kind of listeners who don\u2019t care about pop hits anyway.<\/p>\n