![]() ![]() Cook and his London-based electronic collective PC Music, along with experimental producer Sophie, were instrumental in shaping the pop futurism now associated with Charli XCX. In 2015, she met the people that would help her unlock her new sound and identity. In the second half of the decade, she underwent a pivot that found her deconstructing and rebuilding pop in her own image. That, ultimately, wasn’t who Charli XCX was supposed to be. For years she’d still be surrounded by a narrative of being a rising pop star with secret weapon writing credits, but never becoming fully mainstream herself. It debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200, making it Charli’s first album to enter the chart. The result was Sucker’s sugary, in-your-face power-pop, inspired by the Ramones and ‘60s yé-yé music. After making and scrapping a punk album with Patrik Berger, she began recording with indie stalwarts Rivers Cuomo and Rostam Batmanglij. Later that year, Charli earned her first solo hit with the infectious “Boom Clap,” her contribution to the soundtrack for the teen drama The Fault In Our Stars.Īt the same time, Charli wanted to push beyond True Romance’s electro-pop toward something closer to rock. In 2014, Charli returned to the mainstream spotlight, still a supporting act, on Iggy Azalea’s chart-topping single “Fancy.” She took this time to expand her songwriting portfolio and delve deeper into Top Pop, working with big hitters like Rihanna and Gwen Stefani. True Romance was met with critical acclaim and adoring fans, but fell short of substantial commercial success, a pattern that continues to inform Charli’s pop-but-not status. Producer Ariel Rechtshaid, now a fixture in contemporary pop and rock, was just starting to expand his roster, including everyone from Blood Orange to Sky Ferreira to Justin Bieber. The album relies on her keen curatorial instincts and a clear grasp on the genre’s past and present - light AutoTune, ‘80s synth, Y2K teen attitude, and cutting-edge production. ![]() True Romance introduced Charli XCX as a new kind of pop star, one leading with postmodern flair and emotional candor. In the clip, she shouts over the single’s pulsating backtrack, “Do you know this fucking song? I thought this fucking song was big in Germany!” ![]() “I Love It” was climbing the charts and Charli had just released her debut album True Romance. Perhaps the most straightforward distillation of her aura is in a viral video featuring the singer yelling at a low-energy German festival crowd in 2013. Instead, you could find her shouting from the sidelines and stealing the show on what would become an international hit for the Swedish duo Icona Pop.Ĭharli XCX’s commitment to her brand of pop stardom is so uncompromised and self-aware that it verges on parody. I didn’t know what I liked … I was still figuring it out.” It wasn’t until 2012 that Charli XCX burst onto the pop radar, with “I Love It.” Having co-wrote the song with Swedish producer Patrik Berger, Charli was initially supposed to perform lead vocals, but decided it didn’t fit her sound. “When I got signed I hated pop music I wanted to make bad rap music,” she said in an interview. In 2010, Charli signed with Asylum Records. After a promoter came across her profile, she went on to perform at warehouse raves in east London under the name Charli XCX, her MSN Messenger username at the time. It’s distinctly Charli.Ĭharlotte Aitchison’s misfit avant-pop sensibilities can be traced back to her MySpace page circa 2008, when she was a teenager growing up in England, posting songs and demos for whoever would listen. Her pop is retrofuturistic in sound and aesthetic: songs that ring like caricatures of 1999 and the year 3000, album art with metallic blobs that can only be described as space goo. It’s founded in an appreciation of the pop canon and a forward-looking vision. Charli’s pop is meticulous yet carefree, big and ambitious and hard to pin down. I don’t think that’s how cars work, but the theory has proven to be successful in her career. She follows the logic that you can’t get caught in a rut if you zig-zag fast enough. These songs aren’t built to last.Ĭharli XCX flies in opposition to all that. So much of modern pop is generated to fit a fleeting trend, and the fast-fashion music model is riddled with design flaws. There’s also the streaming economy’s algorithm-driven approximation of What The People Want motivating more of the same. The ruthless pace of the industry is partially to blame for its biggest artists making forgettable music. I still don’t know the difference between Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth. Ariana Grande may never move past mid tempo R&B samples and ponytail extensions. There’s something unplayful and stringent about today’s pop landscape, as if personas are set in stone after they’ve been proven to work. ![]()
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