Sia is taking on the personas of some of today's hottest pop stars on her forthcoming album This Is Acting, and for today (Dec. 17), she is Rihanna. The latest cut from her 1000 Forms of Fear follow-up is the party-friendly anthem "Cheap Thrills," which was originally penned for Rihanna's long-anticipated LP ANTI.
"Cheap Thrills" sounds almost fully like a song intended for Rihanna. From party-friendly lyrics about getting down on Friday nights despite being scrapped for cash and a Caribbean-flavored EDM beat, "Cheap Thrills" would have fit in perfectly into Rihanna's discography, if she hadn't rejected it of course.
But reworked for Sia, the song still works as a mid-tempo party jam.
"Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight / I love cheap thrills / But I don't need no money / As long as I can feel the beat / I don't need no money / As long as I keep dancing," Sia sings in the tropical-infused chorus.
Sia originally wrote a slew of songs with the potential to be included on Rihanna's eighth studio album. Earlier this month, the songwriter opened up about the process of working on ANTI, saying that she and Rihanna listened to 25 songs together and the pop star walked away with four of them.
"She came over to my house for the first time the other night for the first time. I had met her very briefly before, super sweet person, and the other night she came over (to my house) and listened to half of 25 songs I played her because she's still looking for songs for her new album," Sia said. "She was there clearly to listen to songs and see if there was anything she was into, it was a business meeting, for sure."
ANTI has still yet to receive a release date. As for Sia, her new LP This Is Acting will be released on Jan. 29, 2016.
