Charli XCX

No thread on her yet. Her two singles released this year ('stay away', 'nuclear seasons') got the 'best new track' feature on Pitchfork and TheSinglesJukebox rated the later with a 7.83 which is quite a high score by their standards. Also it seems she's been getting the love by british press for a few years now, but I can't confirm that firsthand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBxC5bRbruQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1GNx2bwZa4

Is she named after a Star Trek episode?

From interview magazine http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/brit-pop-girls#_ :

CHARLI XCX
FULL NAME: Charlotte Aitchison. “The XCX really stands for ‘kiss Charli kiss’ which is unbelievably crap.”

AGE: 17.

PROVENANCE: Hertfordshire.

SOUND: Pouty raps, fuzzy basslines.

INTERVIEW: How long have you been making music?
CHARLI XCX: I started writing my own things when I was about 8. I used to try to bully my friends into imitating the Spice Girls on the playground. Then I realized, Oh god, my career’s going nowhere, so I looked in the Yellow Pages and phoned up the first cheap studio that I found and started recording.
INTERVIEW: What’s your song “I Wanna Be Darth Vader” about?
CHARLI XCX: Well, last night on Britain’s Got Talent, there was this absolute twat dancing to
Michael Jackson in a Darth Vader suit, which put me off a bit, but I used to think Darth Vader was really sexy—the mask, the voice, the heavy breathing, and the way that his cape whooshes when he walks.
INTERVIEW: What’s your grand plan?
CHARLI XCX: Well, there are a huge amount of girls out at the minute and they’re all great, but I feel like I could take them all on. I like Lady Gaga’s music and I think her fashion is great, but I saw her on a chat show and I wanted to punch her in the face. I kind of like La Roux, but her voice sometimes really annoys me. That said, I recently noticed that I’ve been doing really high notes in my songs, and I’m like, Oh no, here it comes. I’m going to turn into La Roux. And I’ve just gotten a massively short haircut with a huge fringe. Next I’ll be going ginger.

God bless all these musicians before their PR agents get to them and they actually give fun interviews.
Great songs, by the way.

Whoops, meant to say "God bless all these youngish musicians while they're still giving fun interviews, before their PR agents get to them."

kinda confused by seeing people have their minds blown by her. she's ok i guess, need to hear way more though - i like what i've heard but i'm not fully convinced for some reason, seems a touch heavy-handed

Stay Away is definitely one of my favorites this year. Nuclear Seasons, not really.

Totally into "Nuclear Seasons" and I think I'm gonna go see her tomorrow at her first US show (!)

i love stay away. and valentine. haven't heard anything else other than nuclear seasons which a lot of people seem to like but i don't really get

the chorus in this is great http://soundcloud.com/charlixcx/youre-the-one/s-pU6Fs

Still waiting for something as good as Stay Away. Not even the Icona Pop song is close imo.

okay so this "super ultra" mixtape is just ridiculously great

It is!

cosign! this is probably the closest an album has come to approximating the feel of maxinquaye for me, sounds amazing late at night. rapping over "moments in love" is p much a direct route to my heart. it's a little messy, but the songs are really there. also i didn't realize she was only 20--she'll probably go for leaner production choices in the future.

Everything is consistently excellent. Also "Heatwave" is my jam.

It's almost as if... Someone made tumblr-pop that justified the adjectives and lurid colourscapes.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/14932-various-artists-you-ha-ha-ha-lindstrm-remix/

Lindstrøm gives this shit a proper workout.

i really have no idea what to make of this album, like even whether i'm enjoying it or not

i feel like i'm on the brink of being completely YESSSSS THIS IS RESONATING DEEPLY WITH ME but i can't...quite...get...there and it's the kind of thing where if you're NOT on board emotionally it's kind of functionally useless

"you're the one" is a bit of a monster though

albeit i think i might like "you're the one" better if it didn't plunge shamelessly into its cheesy chorus?

the brooke candy verse on this is disappointingly terrible

have't heard the album but from the singles can attest that if you're on board emotionally they are the best ever

there's a vagueness that keeps me from being emotionally on board "you're the one" but that curving bass

really love the lingering the verses do on "you (ha ha ha)" too

Does she have her own "I Love It" on this? I am still curious to hear what she would have done with it instead of Icona Pop.

I'm into this newest single "what I like". she has a knack for cadence

streaming over @ pitchfork advance

This has very big Alisha's Attic vibes writ large all over it. It's a modern pop album that seems designed for people who grew up in the 90s, which is probably either really cute and endearing, or naff and silly, depending on your taste for talky-sung verses in the style of Siobhan Fahey when in Shakespeare's Sister.

Charli XCX herself seems very much a pop starlet for the twenty-something crowd, in the way she nonchalantly swears and sings about sexual encounters but it's all framed in this goth-pop cuteness with easy melodies and simple vivid imagery. I can see this album's relationship to 90's r&b being comparable to the way Anniemal took 80's disco and made it sound very pop but very chic, even though this is a lot more obviously dark and menacing.

aka the awful song with Brooke Candy made me nervous but I even don't mind that in the context of the album and You (Ha Ha Ha) is actually better than I remembered and the rest of it is great. The first three singles are still the best stuff here especially Nuclear Seasons but this is a pretty wonderful pop album.

as extravagant as charli's overload of stylistic reference points is, i don't think it's what's preventing this clicking for me - basically just don't think her songwriting is quite there yet. it's a bit overstuffed but the problem is less that and more her lack of a really distinct songwriting voice

or just, interesting words, or something

i think i'm the only person in the world that doesn't hate the brooke candy song. the second-to-last one "how can i" would be the dud if i had to pick one

You're not alone. Cloud Aura is one of her best. That said, True Romance is a let-down for me largely due to the production. My favorite track is What I Like, but even it has it's problems. Like why start of with a great intro that gets you all hyped up, only to never reference it anywhere else in the song? Still love it, but that's just one example of the many opportunities missed by this album. I expected it to be much more in the vein of Dance 4 U and Velvet Dreaming but the album's first half is like a 90's rehash of what Little Boots was doing with 80's pop.

I've been cool on her other singles but "What I Like" is marvelous.

this is awesome; the two-year-old songs thread in pretty seamlessly

weird but so far i prefer the album tracks to most of the singles (except "what i like" which wow). "like roses" and "take my hand" especially

black roses*

Really, really, really good record.

after seeing her live last week this album is finally seriously beginning to click for me

in a way i'm glad the singles never quite did it in isolation because i get to feel the rush of "YOU'RE JUST ELECTRIC BLUE" now instead

CUZ I CAN TASTE YOUR LIPS ON MY LIPS
YOUR KISSES TAKE ME OUT OF CONTROL
AND I CAN FEEL MY BLOOOOOOOOD
IT'S CRAWLING THROUGH MY VEEEEEEIIIIIIIINS

somewhere, shirley manson feels proud

brooke candy's rap on "cloud aura" is so so bad but the rest of it is so good

WHY YOU WANNA GO TO SLEEP
DON'T GO TO SLEEP
DON'T GO TO SLEEP
LET'S GO OUUUUUT

hmmm i gave this album a couple spins last week but i only actually liked about half of it (mostly the front half, but some later too), the rest just became this amorphous blur of whatever

it's taken me about a month and about...8 or 9 plays, i guess, to click

YOU'RE JUST ELECTRIC BLUUUUUUE is wonderful. all of this is wonderful.

except for brooke candy

Is "cloud aura" the same as on last year's mixtape?

yeah no changes as far as i can tell

"set me free" is ENORMOUS and shoulda been the lead-off single instead of "you"

I still don't get why "I Love It" didn't get the praise this is getting, I know it's noisy and brash but that's kinda the point?

This keeps getting better on repeated listens, it's not so much that it's a grower as

not that this doesn't suck in its own specific ways

considering that she's just a feature on it i've been willing to mostly blame diplo and whoever herve pagez is for that

Spicy is definitely one of the worst songs she's ever been involved with, but Gone is one of the best. It's exhausting being a fan of hers sometimes.

I've been going back to Pop 2 a lot recently. It didn't really click with me when it came out and I actually thought Number 1 Angel was much stronger. I'm definitely seeing why people were so excited about it now.

i still adore Pop 2, it's both her best release and by far the best thing to come out of anything related to PC Music. "Backseat", "Tears", "Unlock It" and "Track 10" are all especially thrilling

Man, that “Spicy” track/video is an abomination

When your label regards you as barely a notch above the writing-camp set you occasionally have to suck it up and do the job that a “Spicy” requires of you
Presumably she had a decent amount of fun making it, at least

she performed the song at pitchfork fest this past weekend which would indicate she is not a hostage in this situation

Heh, seems like I am alone in enjoying Spicy then.

I’m pretty interested to see what she does in terms of her set list for this upcoming headline tour. It’s been years since she’s toured properly - her shows for the last 3-4 years have either been opening for larger acts (T-Swift, Halsey), ravier “parties” (mostly in the wake of Pop 2) in a small number of cities and in small venues, or random club shows like the one with SOPHIE in LA at the end of 2016 where she played most of what would’ve constituted the now scrapped XCX World album. That’s meant a lot of inconsistency in an attempt to cater to different audiences - the Taylor show attendees got “Boom Clap” and “Fancy”, while at the club parties she’d bring out Caroline Polachek for “Tears” or whatever. I guess she’ll play a lot of songs from the new record on this new tour - hopefully a track or two from the first two albums makes the cut ahead of “Spicy”.

xp: Its certainly not her best, but I don't think it's particularly bad. I'm not too familiar with the source material.

I loorv it!

WTF?!

I'm not too familiar with the source material.

it's the second-best pop single of the '90s!

I was mostly listening to too much phish and sublime at the time unfortunately. I know the chorus to Wannabe but couldn't recognize the verses.

Sounds like a good homework assignment is to listen to Spice. :D

New track (ft. HAIM):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQQKZ8z98gk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zg3ZOn1pHc

this one is short but i really like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp3xFiQuT0A

her cover of "tootimetootimetootime" was great too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4B3s6OqLfg

New album makes me miss old Charli and also that I can only tolerate AG Cook/PC Music production for like 15 mins at a time max despite their/their aesthetic's growing ubiquity in pop music

The last 30 seconds of "Click" may be the most unlistenable, unpleasant thing I've ever heard in my life

I was surprised this wasn’t on the album, was on of my favourites of the recent tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSQEKEegiH0

I don't know, I feel like there's a bit of the old Charli on this album! "Cross You Out" and its 80s prom sludge especially reminds me of True Romance. To me the album is kind of messy but also solidly reconciles two of her principal personas, being "brash pop singer" and "bonkers pop reformist" (for the latter, see "Shake It" and "Click")

this is generally fine but mostly feels like an attempt to recapture the magic of Pop 2 that doesn't quite get there (though gets decently close at times). it's less focused, not quite as jam-packed with hooks and the textures feel a little brighter and harsher too which ends up a bit grating by the end.

"gone" is kinda representative of the whole album because it's a pretty good song but then goes for a "backseat"-style breakdown but doesn't quite push things as far and the end result is a bit underwhelming in comparison?

i know the haim track came out weeks ago but that's my favorite, it kicks ass

is there some label drama that kept "Pop 2" from being an "album"? I loved it. Given what they did with "Blame it on Your Love", this album comes off as trying to reshape that sound to something than can chart... then again "Click" gets pretty damn weird.

Anyway I've been looking forward to the album and didn't bother with the other singles much. Talk later,angels

"white mercedes" is excellent, fully hybridized charli

"blame it on your love" and "1999" are far and away the worst songs on this

"Gone" sounded good at Pitchfork a couple months ago.

WHY YOU WANNA GO TO SLEEP
DON'T GO TO SLEEP
DON'T GO TO SLEEP
LET'S GO OUUUUUT

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, April 22, 2013 1:02 PM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

me otm

"White Mercedes," "I Don't Wanna Know," and "Official" sound like future soft-rock radio staples to me

Very disappointed with the tame noisiness at the end of "Click" after the "most unlistenable, unpleasant thing I've ever heard in my life" setup!

I still want a whole album that sounds like "Nuclear Seasons", one day, but for now this sounds pretty intriguing. "Next Level Charli", "Gone", "Cross You Out", "Click", "Warm", "Thoughts", "White Mercedes" and "Silver Cross" is my initial abridged version, and I suspect my 12yo daughter will like most of the ones I didn't pick.

Oh, and "2099", I'll take that one, too.

"blame it on your love" is decent enough even when "track 10" already exists, except for the drop and the lizzo verse which is as perfunctory as guest-rap bridges get

I feel like this is a valid compromise of the music that Charli wants to make and what her label wants her to release.
*shrug* I kinda like it.

But I've also set my expections on worse and so I'm glad this record still has its Pop2'esque moments, even though like everyone and their mom I'd - of course - want a Pop 3 by Charli instead of another "regular" album.

Sad about this release. The relentless release of singles was an odd gesture that I couldn't figure out whether done in pride or worry --- but so very likely some other monetary gain behind it. It's just very mediocre. There are moments that never shine. And, me, I'm the kind of guy who worships AG and regularly listens to his Soundcloud mixes just because I find his style so addictive. There's so little here that I want to listen to again.

Still optimistic for Pop 3!

Seeing as they did a remix of 'What I Like' years ago I'm shocked that 'Cross You Out' isn't a straight off the rail Com Truise joint. I guess the overlap between them and AG Cook is smaller than I appreciated.

Surprised to see such a mixed reaction for the album on here. I'm pretty much obsessed with it as much as I have been with her best work. It does feel like a best of Charli as I can hear some of her previous eras throughout. Doesn't really sound like that much of a compromise at all. I've even come around to 1999 now.

Official is my current favourite. One of her best ballads.

i think it's too long and kind of a mess and not as good as pop 2 but yeah it's a good charli record

"thoughts," "white mercedes," "silver cross," "official" all great

lots of hooks buried exhausting sonics, somehow it's the same production sound as pop 2 just with the line between exciting and fatiguing very blurry. the opening retread of backseat chord progression and arrangement and then the fusillade of autotune vox feels bracing. also blame it on your love suxxxxxx so bad compared to the OG. that said i'll be listening again shortly!

Yeah, including Blame It On Your Love seems like a weird choice. I'm sure I read Charli saying that the record company were obsessed with it and thought it was going to be the hit. The original is so much better as you say. It's probably the only song I'd lose from the album at this point.

Loving this. Still haven't come around on "1999" and "Track 10">>>>>"Blame It On Your Love" (but I mean I don't skip it anyways). Everything else is class. "Next Level Charli" is a perfect opener.

Weirdly couldn't find the CD at the mall (Canada) so I ordered it on eBay.

We just got tickets to see her live in a couple of weeks. Even though I know there's zero chance of any Superlove, True Romance or Sucker I figured it will still be a fun night out.

i am next level jelly

Oh no, is "Blame it on your love" a normcore remake of "Track 10?"

I'll have to give this record a listen today.

agree with bradnelson

This new one is really growing on me. It's maybe not as inventive as pop 2, but it's very, very catchy throughout, kind of a sweet spot for her.

I didn't like "1999" on release but in the album it really kicks it

I've had a lot of album of the year contenders this year and honestly this is right up there.

i was sleeping on this but finally heard it last week, shit is turnt.