Rina Sawayama is my favourite artist of all time and Charli XCX’s how i’m feeling now continues to show me how great she is at crafting infectious melodies, so an official collaboration between the two has me somewhat excited. Unsurprisingly, I had to review it and I’m glad to say that “Beg For You” is a great song!…even if I came out of it still slightly underwhelmed.

The single samples the mid-’00s dance hit “Cry For You” by September, which is a fantastic track with its thumping Eurobeat production that doesn’t overextend its purpose of being a fun dance number, that’s designed to get butts on the dancefloor and groove along. Despite its surprisingly downcast lyrics, it’s easy to see why its almost trance-like repetition was able to score itself a 3-week peak on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay Chart.

As for “Beg For You”, every positive I could say about “Cry For You” can pretty much be repeated here because it’s essentially the same track. Using the same chord progressions and melodies, “Cry” being a sample and not a straight cover is only due to Charli and Rina writing completely original lyrics over it. They also improved upon the original by cutting it to half its length – shaving off the fluff and simply retaining the essential catchiness of its chorus.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – “Beg For You” is a shining example of this. However, my only gripe with the track is the lack of chemistry between Charli and Rina. The former doing the heavylifting while the latter is only relegated to a single verse. For a song that’s only 2:46 minutes long, underutilizing Rina’s feature basically renders her invisible. So much lost potential for a track that’s already incredible! That’s the biggest letdown of all on “Beg For You”.