“It’s okay to admit that you make me jealous,” sings Charli XCX on “Von Dutch,” the lead single from her newly released album. throw, A Critically adorable A collection of vibrant hyperpop bangers. He is referring to a woman who is talking nonsense about him but is, no doubt, obsessed. This is a running theme throughout throwing: “Girl, So Confused” tells the story of a peer-slash-rival that Charlie secretly worries about his downfall, while “360” and its video put Charlie in the Internet pantheon—someone cooler and more attractive than Girls. “When you’re in the mirror, you’re just looking at me,” he sings, self-consciously channeling the titular “Brat.”
In an age of nonstop scrutiny of who pop stars are referring to in their songs, it almost doesn’t matter who Charlie is talking about. He can talk about anyone. Because these days, everyone wants to be Charli XCX, the long-criticized darling of “alternative” female artists.
While former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello tease His new single, “I LUV IT” (the name of one of Charlie’s best-known songs, though spelled differently) was released in March while leaning out of a car window. Fans accused him The sound of charli xcx and style (Charlie even posted a video of himself lip-syncing to his 2017 song “I Got It,” then Tweet “Let’s mess what’s fun! No matter!”). Cabello’s album title, C, XOXO, Charli also recalls XCX’s stage name, and the font on some of her vinyl albums as “basically the same” as used throw away. Then Katy Perry in June Posted a carousel Of the photos on Instagram, where commenters said they mistook him for Charlie — the long black hair, lo-fi photography and squat-and-pout are all classic Charlie hallmarks.
Charlie has built up hype over the past few months throw awayIt’s become a meme to note how many stars seem to be channeling her vibe: “She looks like she’s just living that life von Dutch cult classic but she’s still popping,” someone said. X wrote A photo of Anne Hathaway in a denim corset and big hair, referring to “Von Dutch”. “He looks like he wants to listen to those club classics when he goes to the club,” someone said Another wrote Lady Gaga, with curly hair and a leather jacket, references the track “Club Classic”. Everyone from actresses Melissa Barrera pop star Doa Lipaworker Erica Hiltonthe artist Kate BushSoundCloud Rapper Ian, The Gita from pokemon, And even one Green sticky notes Charli has been memed as XCX wants to be. While most of these examples are clearly tongue-in-cheek, they speak to a broader XCXification of culture.
Having built his career on MySpace and later East London in the 2000s, there was never a time when Charli XCX wasn’t cool. While his peers faced constant (and often sexist) criticism for being perceived as “art trees”, no one could make the same accusation against Charlie, who not only composed and produced his own music, but wrote it as well. and produce for other pop artists. Yet over the past decade or so there has been constant debate about whether Tailing Charlie will rise to the level of fame of her contemporaries: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and others who ruled the charts in the 2010s. “For years, both Charli and her critics seemed confusedly obsessed with her status — the darling of the underground who may or may not have graduated to Main Pop Girl,” wrote Megan Garvey. Review of Pitchfork throw away (Rating: 8.6). “Then something shifted, and it hardly seemed to matter. He had something they didn’t. He was quiet.”
throw away For every hedonistic anthem like “365” that’s both flaunt and undercut, there’s that coolness (“Whoa the fuck you? I’m a brat when I’m bumpin’/Now I wanna hear my track, are you bumpin’?”), with anxious confessions. That this work is exactly that, is a theme that has permeated his entire career. For a pop star with millions of envious viewers, it’s interesting to hear the song so clearly directed about her struggles with jealousy, sometimes at her ex, other times at her peers. In “Rewind”, he wants to go back to a time before he overanalyzed the shape of his face on the Billboard charts; In “Sympathy is a Knife” she feels insecure when forced to fake a smile with a significantly more famous pop star who is dating her fiance, George Daniels’ bandmate from 1975 (one guesses who it is). “I don’t feel special,” he laments, “I might say something stupid,” “I’m famous but not quite/But I’m perfect for the background.”
Then there’s the “mean girls,” a sort-of-but-not-really ironic shout-out to the crowd of dead-eyed intellectual It-girls that Charlie both resents and admires (another guess who who are human) “You hate the fact that he’s the darling of New York City. In an interview, Charlie spoke candidly about professional violence, Telling Rolling Stone He was “super jealous” when Lorde debuted “Royals” in 2013. He had big hair; I had big hair. She wore black lipstick; I once wore black lipstick.’ You make this parallel and think, ‘Well, that could have been me.’ Fans have speculated that “The Girl, So Confused” is about Lorde, despite (or perhaps because of) throw awayIts release, Lord Posted a chic Instagram storyWrote, “It is an honor to be moved, changed and restrained by his work.”
As for being around more famous celebrities, Charlie told the magazine that she and other artists often feel insecure but “we don’t talk about it because we’re all supposed to be strong and confident.” “Being jealous is somehow wrongly equated with not supporting women or not being girls, which is not true,” she said. “You can, I think, feel jealous and still be a good person who champions other women. Jealousy isn’t a very sexy feeling, or a really sexy trait, is it?”
Pop music, more than almost any other aspect of culture, pits artists against each other. On any given week, an artist is considered the future of the industry, the next a star Chapel Ron Be born and shake it all up. Charli has been hailed as the “future” of pop for her alternative e-girl aesthetic but also for her hyperpop-inflected sound: since the mid-2010s, she has worked with visionary producers such as AG Cook, formerly PC Musicand the late SOPHIE, who among fellow artists 100 gecs, Slayyyter and Caroline Polachek has been characterized as “futuristic” in the often clichéd (hyperpop “future” or It was just the present?) “Its main goal was to detach pop’s head-rush aesthetic from any commercial expectations, thereby opening up space for wild fun,” as the atlantic described it.
Much like Beyonce Cowboy Carter, Charli XCX says she Rejects any genre labelAnd throw away Charlie XCX resists being categorized as anything other than an album. But abandoning commercial goals to make more room for fun is ultimately a descriptor of Charlie’s entire career: His biggest commercial hits to date (“Boom Clap,” “I Love It,” “Fancy”) are ones that no self-respecting fan would do. Include them in the list of top 10 Charlie songs. Instead, Angels (Charlie’s fanbase) praised the weirdness and innovation of his 2017 mixtape. Pop 2 Or the delightfully scuzzy Quarantine album how i feel now which has become a cult favourite. with throw, This is Charlie at his most charlie, and when celebrities are jacking his style and sound, they’re borrowing it. “Taken together, it doesn’t really sound like anything else,” said The New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh writes In his review throw away. “There’s no doubt that won’t be true for a long time.”
Musicians referencing and borrowing from each other isn’t new, and it’s healthy — the idea that artists are completely original is a lie, not least because it would make for a lot of really boring music if it were true. Charlie XCX didn’t invent hyperpop, he didn’t Sexy Lobotomy Look (or “dissociative pout”), he did not discover .5 SelfiesHe did not cause Great vibe shift Towards nihilism, decadence, and irony or regression Indie sleaze. But he’s a perfect conduit for all of those things, and he makes really good, really fun music that you can dance to while you’re at it. He is a native of coolness but, unlike many cool people, can tell exactly how it feels. He can write a song about turning 31 and falling in love and wondering if it’s time to consider having kids without sounding trite or normie; He can write about being jealous of other girls and still make you jealous of him.
In a culture that demands its women be confident and vulnerable, “authentic” but modest, Charli’s sentiments that no one should talk about ironically turned the entire pop field green with envy. he Your favorite referencechild
