“Beg for You” by Charli XCX (ft. Rina Sawayama)

Charli XCX’s “Beg for You” is a love song, though one that is kinda indirect in its approach. That is to say that the lyrical focus isn’t so much on the vocalist’s feelings for the addressee per se as it is the fact that, in the very least under her estimation, he is a transient lover. Thus, the reason we find Charli and Rina ‘begging’ is because dude ‘comes and goes just as he pleases’. Or more bluntly put, the addressee does not spend as much time with the vocalist as the latter prefers. Thus, she is firmly entreating him to be more considerate of her feelings.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Charli XCX's Beg for You at Lyrics.org.
Lyrics to Charli XCX's "Beg for You"

Facts about “Beg for You”

Charli XCX, a pop singer from England, is someone who most readers of this blog are probably already familiar with. And this track was released on 27 January 2022 as the third single from her “Crash” album.

“Beg for You” is heavily reliant on a 2006 song entitled “Cry for You” by a Swedish songstress known as September.

“Beg for You” was produced by an artist known as Digital Farm Animals, which in reality is just one individual, Nick Gale. And besides for Gale, the other co-writers of this track are Charli and the following:

  • Rina Sawayama
  • Anoo Bhagavan
  • Jonas von der Burg
  • Alex Soifer
  • Sorana
  • Rollo Spreckley

The first teasing of this song transpired in May of 2021.

“Beg for You” was well received by professional music critics, a sentiment that didn’t necessarily translate to outstanding chart success. However, the tune did chart in many, many countries and fared particularly well in New Zealand as well as on Billboard’s Euro Digital Songs Sales list.

This song can be considered the first official collaboration between Charli XCX and Rima Sawayama. However, they did record a track earlier, circa 2019, that never saw the public light of day.

There are a couple of remixes of this song in circulation, one of them in which Charli teams up with Vernon of the K-pop boy band Seventeen.

Charli performed this song solo on an early-March 2022 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Charli XCX and co. (with this song being a product of Asylum Records and Warner UK) enlisted Nick Harwood to direct the music video. And Charli has noted that they filmed the clip at the exact location where the last scene from the iconic 1995 movie Se7en was filmed. The movie stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

Beg for You

Who is Rina Sawayama?

Rina Sawayama, as implied by her surname, was born in Japan, though actually being based in London. As such she has experienced some success on both most sides of the world though is primarily associated with the United Kingdom. And her only studio album to date, Sawayama (2020), managed to break the top 10 of both the UK Indie Albums Chart and Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums list stateside.

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