My friend sent me a message a few weeks ago:

“little Friday afternoon treat for you Charli XCX x Billie Eilish singing about pants.”

This friend seems to have a wildly eclectic and fascinating taste in music, one that I’m lucky and happy to frequently take notice of and dip into. And that written note to introduce the song is perfect. Like the song, it’s blunt and in-your-face.

I’m very new to Charli XCX, despite her being one of the most influential artists on the planet right now. Upon investigation, I saw her described as a “feral party girl” and, in her own words, “messy party girl, honest, blunt, volatile.”

On “Guess” the spirit of these descriptions is honored to the fullest extent on a brisk, economic electro-thrash with lewd and funny lyrics with the most addictive groove to it.

The track is introduced with Charli XCX asking with a voice made to sound like it’s coming down a phone line:

Hey, Billie, you there?

Of course, Billie Eilish is another of the biggest artists on the planet right now, and her appearance on the track is inspired. But more on her in a moment.

There’s hardly time to breathe before Charli let’s out a little moan and launches headfirst into what could be a proposal, an invitation, or a challenge:

You wanna guess the color of my underwear?
You wanna know what I got going on down there?

The fractured beat and squelching electronics in the background are sparse and harsh, and are also my favorite thing about the track. They make you want to move.

At the very least, even if you’re dance-phobic, you’ll be tapping your foot incessantly. It stops and starts and builds and falls in just the right places to pique your interest – like the subtle beat drop before Billie Eilish starts her verse.

Charli has already been fairly lyrically frank in the first verse, and Billie continues this in her verse, with a slight twist and a more sultry vocal delivery:

Don’t have to guess the color of your underwear
Already know what you got going on down there
It’s the lacy black pair with the little bows
The ones I picked out for you in Tokyo 

I veer between admiring how brazen it is, being embarrassed to be listening to it, finding it kind of ridiculous in its blatant, teasing, lusty sexuality, and wanting to jump all around the room during its duration.

To be fair, it’s hardly accurate to call it a song; it’s more a bunch of beats and trancey moments expertly glued together with rude lyrics spat and whispered over the top.

But it’s also the most addictively repeatable listening experience I’ve had in a while.

The humor of the subject matter, the teasing nature of the characters at the centre of the song, the delivery, the beats… it’s all perfect.

The last line asks:

You want to guess if we’re serious about this song?

I don’t think it matters if they’re serious or not. What I would guess is that they are having great fun with it and that comes through in what the listener hears.

I’m glad my friend turned me on to it, pun intended. Whether it’s a statement of intent, a manifesto, a stream of consciousness, or a massive joke is unclear and unimportant. What matters is it should get even the most reluctant dancers to want to jump around for 2 minutes.

That much I don’t need to guess.