Why Billie Eilish’s collab with Charli XCX on Guess might not have happened

Fans had been speculating for a while that a Charli XCX/Billie Eilish collaboration could be in the works, and it arrived yesterday in the form of a new version of Guess, a track that originally appeared on Charli’s ‘ Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not’ album.

A high energy celebration of the act of speculating what colour underwear someone might be wearing - a popular pastime among both artists, it would seem - the video for Guess sees Eilish almost literally bulldozing her way into the song as she crashes through the wall to whisper-sing the second verse.

Although this is the first time we’ve seen evidence of the collaboration, it now seems clear that Charli XCX was the artist that Eilish and her brother Finneas were talking about when they discussed working with someone they were fans of back in May.

“I did a session with another artist for the first time in six years,” Eilish told Apple Music's Zane Lowe. “It was really fun. And I was really nervous because I was like, wow, I haven't worked with anyone but Finneas in six years, right? And I hated it back in the day. I really, really hated it. I hated studios. I hated collaborating. I've never done a feature.”

Explaining how he helped to make the session happen, Finneas said: “Billie was sitting and telling me why she loved this one artist. When we were watching their music videos together. And I know them. And I was texting them and I was like, ‘We're sitting here watching your stuff. It's so good.’ They were like, ‘I'm in LA. I was like, ‘Do you want to do a day?’”

Eilish’s nervousness, though, almost got the better of her. “Billie tried to get out of it, like, three times!” says Finneas. “I was like, ‘Why are you making me do that - what are you talking about?” adds Eilish.

Fortunately, good sense prevailed, and the Guess rework - which is produced by Finneas and The Dare - was born. And with the Brat summer in full swing and both artists currently so hot, few would bet against it being another massive hit for them.