A search through Cara Delevingne‘s text messages would reveal a few things — maybe plans to hang out with a friend she hasn’t seen in a while, maybe some gossip about someone she hopes to never see again, but definitely the beginning stages of her latest single “Need It,” co-written over text (by way of Post-It notes) with Fiona Apple.
“We were writing things down on Post-it notes and sending them to each other, which is really funny, because we could have just been texting these lyrics,” Delevingne recently told Rolling Stone. “I wanted to do a song that honoured her — honoured her impact for me as a person and as an artist. I think without the experience of going in the studio with her, I’d never have felt like I could be myself, a bit like a kid, and not have to act like I know what I’m doing or perform or change myself.”
“Need It” is an act of surrender built around distorted synthesisers. In a statement, Delevingne described Apple as “an absolute savant when it comes to portraying emotion and melody and lyric,” and described the song itself as a “dance banger.”
The single is the third release from Delevingne’s upcoming debut studio album. It follows the double-singles that introduced the record, “I Forgot” and “Out of my Head.” After more than a decade in modelling, acting, and other public-facing endeavours, she decided it was time to build something that stemmed from a more personal place and reconstructed whatever preconceived notions people might have about her.
“There was this part of me that always thought I was gonna do it,” she said. “I just knew I was going to be a bit older and have that experience under my belt and have that point of view, that belief in yourself.”
From Rolling Stone US
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
