Cara Delevingne Wrote New Single ‘Need It’ Over Text With Fiona Apple

A search through Cara Delevingne‘s text messages would reveal a few things — maybe plans to hangout 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 honored her — honored 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 synthesizers. 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 modeling, acting, and other public-facing endeavors, 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.”