Charli XCX has enlisted Rina Sawayama for her newest single from her upcoming fifth studio album, Crash. On Thursday (Jan. 27), the “New Shapes” singer released her and Sawayama’s long-awaited collaboration, “Beg for You.”
In the dance–pop track, both Charli and Sawayama are pleading for their lover — who has the tendency to abandon them at a moment’s notice — to be with them no matter the consequence. The singers later become desperate enough that they consider begging for their lover to stay by their side.
“You know I go insane every time you have to catch a flight/ Well, can I take you to the airport? Make out under the bathroom lights/ Put your lips on my lips, I’ll remember your kiss on the nights when I miss you, uh, uh/ Something I can’t forget when I’m restless in bed, yeah, you got me obsessed,” Charli sings on the track.
The “Good Ones” musician first teased the song on Dec. 28 via TikTok with a snippet of Sawayama’s verse. “Coming and going just as you please (ah ah ahhh)/ Separated by a degree/ Hesitated illusion so far out reach (ah ah ahhh),” the Japanese-born singer-songwriter sings on the throwback groove, which is now featured in the full length version of the track.
A collaboration between the two pop stars has been a long time in the making. In 2020, Sawayama told Cosmopolitan that she and Charli both wanted to have a proper writing session, and revealed they had a song together that did not make it to Charli’s self-titled 2019 LP. “We actually had a song together that was meant to go on her album, but she had too many tracks, so it got scrapped,” Sawayama explained.
Crash is set to release on March 18. In addition to appearances from Sawayama, as well as Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek on “New Shapes,” the new collection of tracks will also feature Oneohtrix Point Never, A.G. Cook, The 1975’s George Daniel and Ariel Rechtshaid. A North American spring tour to accompany Crash is slated to kick off on March 26 at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, and will conclude with an April 29 show at the Byline Bank Aragon ballroom in Chicago.
Listen to “Beg for You” below.
