![]() The insular, fast-paced construction of how i’m feeling now informed its follow-up: “I knew I had to turn it up to high-octane, ten, pop-star level for it to feel fresh for myself.” Crash should have existed first: ‘New Shapes’, ‘Good Ones’, ‘Every Rule’ and ‘Twice’ were written, at least in part, before the previous album began but the pandemic halted it. It’s actually really a challenge in self-control, press, at the moment”įor Aitchison to enjoy her new album, she had to surprise herself. “It’s hard for me to not sit on this call with you and destroy everything I’ve built because I’m feeling really reckless. “I think that’s what makes a great public figure, celebrity, artist, musician, performer, whatever: to not be able to predict what happens next. I want to be constantly kept on my toes and not be able to see what’s coming next from them.” For her, that’s Kanye West, Yung Lean, Tommy Cash and her collaborator Caroline Polachek. I don’t want to feel safe with the work that they provide me. I want my favourite musicians to shock and surprise me and annoy me and completely flip my brain. “It’s the same with musicians, to be honest. “I enjoy that early-2000s era of celebrity where Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are just being iconic and being these otherworldly figures,” she says. At a moment in which “dissociative feminism” is being discussed as a trend on the internet, celebrity is having a deranged avant-garde moment with artful staged paparazzi shoots, performative love and unhinged interviews, and shitposting online is the norm, it would seem that the culture is in step with Charli XCX.Īitchison herself is against the idea that celebrities should be accessible and “real”, the mode of celebrity culture in the 2010s, crucially in full force while she was navigating the bulk of her pop career. She was too dominant, multi-faceted and flippant to be your typical British female mainstream pop star or to be universally loved by the masses. In an age of empowerment feminism, this brash self-adoration and self-loathing wasn’t easily digestible. But her uneasy lyrics draw red circles around her own flaws: she is frequently hardest on herself. Her persona, like her sense of humour, is at turns flat, sexy and dissociative. If you can’t beat them, join them and be the best, says Charli XCX (a Leo, if astrology means anything to you). She made music for people who liked to have a nihilistic laugh, who embraced working hard and playing harder during the grind of late-capitalism. It has, at times, elevated the superficial and sybaritic to an art form, which is why it’s beloved by so many. ![]() Her lyrics are about partying until oblivion and loving and hating yourself in violent doses medicating your stress with hedonism. The messaging of that project alienated a proportion of potential listeners, too. I think that makes certain things about my project a bit easier to understand.” “You couldn’t put these artists on a playlist because they didn’t really sound like anything and now with that genre title, it makes certain sounds and artists easier to digest for people who maybe weren’t accessing that kind of sound on their own without the guidance of a Spotify playlist. “I think hyper-pop becoming this word that people can umbrella a lot of artists under is definitely a familiarisation of a certain type of sound, which before was seen as quite uncontainable,” Aitchison explains. She’s considered the figurehead of this sound of the 2020s. The fact that hyperpop crystallised as a genre during the pandemic is partly why the world finally caught up to her. “ A strong narrative around Charli XCX has been that she’s too forward-thinking to win, something of an underdog. Rolling Stone spotlighted and spoke with the amazing Charli XCX early last year: There are a couple of interviews that I want to bring in first. I will get to a couple of the positive reviews for the stunning CRASH. Songs such as Baby and Good Ones are among the best of Charli XCX. One of the absolute best albums from last year, CRASH is a stunning work from an artist who keeps on growing stronger. ![]() It has been decidedly missing from nominations and further kudos. CRASH should have been nominated for more awards. Whilst it got some great reviews, there were some that were more mixed. Released in March, it was the fifth album from the Pop pioneer. Features that nods to great albums from last year, I want to mention Charli XCX’s amazing CRASH. ![]()
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