Beg, Borrow, Steal

"Beg, Borrow, Steal" is a single by American industrial pop-rock singer Amy-Jayne and Russian-American singer-rapper L.E.X, released in the UK on May 19th, 2014. It was the second single from Amy-Jayne's debut album "Rock City", as well as the lead single from L.E.X's compilation of duets, "The Collective". The song became a hit for the two artists, but was marred in controversy when it came to light that Amy-Jayne had not actually written the song as originally claimed, and that it was the work of Mark Talley, of the group Molly's Chamber.

Background
Amy-Jayne walked in a fashion show in March 2014, showcasing some of her own design work. Chance would have it that Svetlana Alexandrova was modelling in the same show. Svetlana met with Amy, who'd told her about her music aspirations, and that she was looking for a rapper to appear on a future single. Svetlana referred Amy to her husband, singer-rapper L.E.X. Initially, L.E.X was reluctant to collaborate with Amy because he had concerns that their musical styles were just too different to be compatible but he took the chance and entered the studio with Amy after she played for him her original solo demo. L.E.X worked extensively with Amy on the melody of the song, which eventuated in him taking on some of the vocal duties on the track alongside the rap verse he was contributing to the song. He and Amy have spoken positively of each other's work ethic and the strength of their collaborative effort.

Reception & Controversy
L.E.X teased "Beg, Borrow, Steal" in early April, and within 48 hours of his leaked snippet the full track had been premiered by Amy-Jayne. The industry praised the song for its cohesion from unlikely duet partners, and for taking both artists out of their comfort zones. For L.E.X, this was recording something with a much heavier rock flavour as opposed to his usual urban/R'n'B stylings, while for Amy-Jayne it was venturing outside of her roots in rock music on a pop-rock cover of "Pick Up The Phone" by Electra, and dipping her toes in L.E.X's genre on a Live Lounge performance of "Satellite" by Aurora Reed and Rory Jacobs.

The positive reaction led the single to be a top 5 hit on the singles, airplay and digital charts, but radio quickly pulled the plug on the single after it was revealed that Amy-Jayne had stolen the song from then-unknown artist Mark Talley. Amy-Jayne and L.E.X have not publically made a statement regarding the controversy, although L.E.X has not been held accountable for the plagiarism by Mark since he was unaware of the song's origins.

Tracklisting

 * Promo CD
 * 1) "Beg, Borrow, Steal"
 * 2) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (Instrumental)
 * 3) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (Acappella)


 * CD Single
 * 1) "Beg, Borrow, Steal"
 * 2) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (RedOne Mix)
 * 3) "Pick Up The Phone" (Electra Cover - Amy-Jayne Solo)
 * 4) "Deafening Heartbeat" (Malaya Cover - L.E.X Solo)


 * Digital Remix EP
 * 1) "Beg, Borrow, Steal"
 * 2) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (BT's Digital Theft Mix)
 * 3) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (Armin Van Buuren Remix)
 * 4) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (Wax Motif Remix)
 * 5) "Beg, Borrow, Steal" (Instrumental)

Music Video
The video begins with Amy-Jayne in front of a plain grey background, wearing a leather outfit. There are a number of different close-ups and camera angles showing only parts of her face as she’s singing. She keeps her hands close to her face, so her numerous tattoos are prominently on display for the camera. L.E.X is introduced in a solo scene during his section of the first verse, up against a heavily graffiti-covered brick wall. There are different shots of him sitting and leaning against the wall or standing and performing the song to the camera.

Amy-Jayne is next seen during the first chorus in a new outfit, featuring a button-down shirt and a complex bondage-style harness that accentuates her cleavage. In some shots she is carrying a fur jacket on her shoulder; the whole time she is giving the camera a moody gaze as she sings to it. The next appearance of L.E.X is in his part of the second verse. He is now in front of a grey background, and there are lighting effects so that sometimes his face is shadowed. As with before, different shots have him either standing or crouching.

Since both Amy-Jayne and L.E.X are singing the second chorus, we intercut between new scenes of them with a partner of the opposite gender. Both Amy-Jayne and the other woman are all over the guys in a sexually aggressive manner while the guys look disinterested. Both Amy-Jayne and L.E.X are performing for the camera during this sequence. Amy-Jayne is next seen wearing a white suit; she is lying on the floor and the camera hovers over her as she sings. The video edit cuts out a chorus so the third and fourth half-verses are pulled together to make one complete third verse sung solely by Amy-Jayne.

Alongside the scene of L.E.X sitting on the bench with his video girl beside him, during his rap we get a new scene of him sitting in a car. In both setups he’s performing his rap to the camera while random shots of Amy-Jayne from her previous set-ups are also shown. The rest of the video is a collection of all the different scenes we’ve seen throughout the video, plus one final new scene of Amy-Jayne singing to a mirror. She turns to look at the camera then walks away as the video fades to black.

Chart Performance
"Beg, Borrow, Steal" entered the singles chart at #5, not quite reaching the same heights as Amy-Jayne's previous single but still benefitting from a highly-publicized "battle of the Amys", as well as L.E.X's own star power. It rocketed up the airplay chart, making it all the way to peak at #2. It had already started to descend, before it came to light the song was plagiarized, and after that radio stations quickly abandoned the song, falling from #6 to #29 in its 11th week on chart. The single reached the top 5 on the digital chart as well, but fell off after the plagiarism scandal. It is currently certified silver in the UK, a far cry from the platinum accreditation for "Politically Correct", but outselling L.E.X's previous single "Nobody Will Listen" due to that song's last-minute release.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 175,104
 * Week 1: #5 - 56,552
 * Week 2: #7 - 60,372
 * Week 3: #11 - 32,176
 * Week 4: #15 - 14,027
 * Week 5: #17 - 11,977