Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ Is A Tropical-Flavored Rihanna Reject - MTV 

Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ Is A Tropical-Flavored Rihanna Reject

We could totally see Rih rocking this song too.

Sia’s long had a knack for creating spirited, empowering anthems — take her recent single “Alive,” which is all about adopting a survivor’s attitude and feeling unironically blessed to simply be living.

On her latest single, though, the stakes are a little less extreme… but every bit as inviting. “Cheap Thrills,” which premiered on Beats 1 on Wednesday (Dec. 16), chronicles Sia’s getting-hyped-for-the-club mindset, as she declares she doesn’t have to be rich to have a good time. “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,” she sings, while a layered backing voice shouts “I love cheap thrills!”

Like every other track on her upcoming album

, “Cheap Thrills” was originally intended for another artist — in this case, Rihanna. It’s immediately clear why Sia thought the sunny, carefree jam would be up Rih’s alley; the tropical house flair sounds like so much of Rihanna’s early work. But who knows… maybe that similarity is the very reason she decided it wouldn’t be appropriate for

. And who knows whether or not the song was ever offered to Selena Gomez for

, but I think it could’ve fit in nicely with other island-flavored tunes like “Body Heat,” “Me & The Rhythm” and “Me & My Girls.”

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, Sia explained why she felt attached to “Cheap Thrills” and why Rihanna passed on it, saying, “I realized just as soon as I was cutting it that it sounded a little bit too Brit-pop for her. It’s more Icona Pop.

“We did actually send it to her, but they passed on it, and then I just couldn’t stop listening to it in the car,” she continued. “There’s something really uplifting about it that put me in a good mood, and I would just pretend it wasn’t me singing. It felt very summer and fun, and I was like, ‘I’ll put that on there.’”

arrives Jan. 29 and also features tracks that Sia wrote for pop powerhouse artists like Adele, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Shakira.