Charli XCX defends Girls collaboration

Charli XCX has defended Rita Ora over her track ‘Girls’.
The 25-year-old singer features on her pal Rita’s new track, and has now weighed in on the controversy it has received, after some critics slammed it for its depiction of bisexuality.
But Charli – who appears on the song alongside Bebe Rexha and Cardi B – has said that whilst she understands the concerns of the LGBT community, she knows Rita was speaking about her own experiences with women in the track, and insists the song was never intended to be "exploitative".
She said: "I think the conversation and dialogue around this song is really important. I try so hard to be as involved with the LGBTQ community as possible. Without that community, my career would not really be anything.
"I know from when Rita invited me to be a part of the song, this song was about a specific experience that she had with a woman.
"I know that Rita’s had extremely meaningful relationships with both men and women. She really does have every right to tell her story because she’s not doing it from an exploitative viewpoint: she’s been with women and had relationships with women. She’s had relationships with men too. I don’t understand why her story is less valid than anybody else’s."
The ‘Boys’ singer still feels proud of her work on the track as she was happy to support her close pal, but apologised to anyone who has felt "offended" by the song.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, she added: "I just really want to learn from this situation. I think that’s something we can all do: we can all learn from this conversation. It would be great to continue this dialogue in a positive way – not in an attacking way – so that people can learn about people’s feelings, about people’s sexualities and viewpoints. We can learn to not judge people before we get all the information. We can learn how certain words might make certain communities sad or upset.
"I’ve known Rita for a very long time in this particular journey and in this particular story in her life. I would never want to take anyone’s space in pop music, but Rita is somebody I’ve known for a very long time who has had queer experiences and [I felt] that perhaps this is a safe space for me to be on this record. I apologise to any people I’ve offended by that."