Liam Payne & Rita Ora - For You (Fifty Shades Freed)

The fact that Fifty Shades soundtrack singles are treated like such an event is ceaselessly amusing to me. Maybe it's just that I'm the wrong demographic for it, but it feels like the most perennially uncool thing to ever be associated with. And of those associations, think back 5 or so years to when One Direction were unquestionably the biggest boy band on the planet. That's not so far removed from the present, but now 2 of its 5 members have released the lead off single to a movie targeted at horny, middle-aged women (note: I was amused to discover that about a quarter of Fifty Shades book sales are by men :p). The way that tween pop artists expand upon their demographics feels so strange, but this also just keeps happening so maybe it's deliberate??

Anyway as much as I'd like to continue my spiel about how amusing it is that Liam Payne is on this song, it's really Rita Ora's song for the most part, and she actually has some tenure since she's actually acted in the films. It's a good showing from her here too, continuing what has been a pretty strong run of singles lately. Rita does a good performance here too, managing to stay on top of the very loud production and not getting too overcrowded by it. It took me a little while to get on board with it, but it's a pretty refreshingly modern single compared to what else I've heard from the franchise.