It’s the quintessential falling in love over the course of a single song narrative. As the song “A Winter’s Ball” fades out, it blends into the beginning of the song “Helpless”, performed by Eliza Hamilton. A light piano sound plays, giving off a bouncy and happy vibe as Eliza sings about her feelings of helplessness before meeting Hamilton. She begins by setting the scene: she and her sister Angelica are at the Winter’s ball, and many of the rebel soldiers are trying their hardest to win them over. However, she’s not too interested in any of them – that is, until Hamilton walks into the room. However, she doesn’t have the courage to go up and talk to him, and instead tries to get his attention from the opposite side of the ballroom. She turns to her sister, points to Hamilton, and claims him for herself. An echo of “oooohs” begins as Angelica approaches him, and the listener gets a sense of Eliza’s lack of confidence as she implies that Hamilton won’t notice her, especially with her gorgeous sister there. Still, she manages to catch a few glances and thinks about how she’s so into him.

The main theme fades slightly as the song transitions into a spoken scene. Angelica leads Hamilton over to her sister, claiming she’s about to change his life. Eliza introduces herself, and she’s about as awkward as you might expect. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to phase Hamilton, as he tells her that if it takes fighting a war for them to meet, it will still have been worth it. Fast forward a week, and the couple are already writing love letters to one another. However, she makes it clear that his charm has worked on Angelica as well, as she asks Eliza to form a harem so that she might have a piece of him as well. Throughout the rest of the musical we receive hints of a secret fling between Angelica and Hamilton, but this line could also be seen as foreshadowing Hamilton’s affair later on.

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While the ending to the original made it sound as though Eliza was still helpless by the end, this mixtape version paints Ashanti as more independent and free.

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Two more weeks go by, and now Hamilton is asking Eliza’s father for her hand in marriage. Once again, Eliza is panicking and does not feel confident that her father will say yes. To her surprise, he gives Hamilton his blessing, and Eliza sings about how lucky she is to have a guy like him. Hamilton echoes this sentiment as the music fades, leaving only the minimalistic bass line as a backing track. Despite the fact that he does not have much to offer her in terms of money, land, or a troop of soldiers to command, he swears to her that he will never let her feel so helpless again. There’s a distinct change in Eliza’s voice for the rest of the song: she’s confident, overjoyed, and relieved. After a short call-and-response between the couple, the sound of wedding bells play as the ensemble repeats the phrase “In New York you can be a new man”, a reference to a line in the opening number, "Alexander Hamilton". Eliza gazes longingly into Hamilton’s eyes as she sings the final “helpless”, and the two of them kiss.

Ashanti and Ja Rule sing as Eliza and Hamilton respectively in the Hamilton Mixtape remix. The song begins with a few samples from the original and goes into the chorus. However, a key difference between this version and the original is that Ashanti’s vocals dominate over the music in the background. It paints her as less timid and more confident, whereas in the original Eliza sounds much more reserved and hesitant. As with many of the other songs on the mixtape, most of the official names are removed in order to make the songs sound more modernistic. Because of this change, Eliza’s competition is no longer her sister, but rather an unnamed girl. Even though there is still a hint of insecurity in Ashanti’s voice, she makes it clear that she does not think of this mystery woman as a huge threat to her. Additionally, the awkward introduction between Hamilton and Eliza in the original is removed, giving Ashanti a bit more agency than Eliza has in the original. When the mystery girl asks if she can have a piece of Hamilton as well, Ashanti's definitive "no" communicates that she is in control. Hamilton’s part is sung by Ja Rule, who has been rumored to be in a secret relationship with Ashanti. He references his rough childhood and swears to Ashanti she will never feel so helpless as he once did. The song descends into the chorus one final time. As it begins to fade out, the sound of the piano becomes faint as Ashanti sings “I’m so into you” and the song ends. While the ending to the original made it sound as though Eliza was still helpless by the end, this mixtape version paints Ashanti as more independent and free.