
I think people’s favorite songs, from the brief reading I’ve done online, are “Official” and “Shake It,” which is funny because they’re polar opposites. I don’t know, but I’ve been proven fucking wrong. I didn’t wanna put it on the album, and I thought: No one is gonna like this song. I actually had a lot of trouble with “Official” for a really long time.

I really love the four-song stretch starting with “White Mercedes.” You’re high-energy on so much of the album, but these songs feel much more reflective and intimate. I felt this rush of: Fuck, this is the coolest shit I have ever heard. Justice and Uffie made me feel something when I was 14, and I didn’t really have that feeling again until I met Sophie. There are very few artists who make me feel something up my core and make me wanna cry. When I met SOPHIE, it was like: Wow, you get it, and you get me, and you also make me feel something. I felt like I’d been trying to make a song that sounded like “Vroom Vroom” for forever, but I couldn’t do it because I hadn’t met anybody who had the skills to make the sound.

But working with SOPHIE and releasing “Vroom Vroom” was a key moment for me in realizing myself as a musician, because I felt like I finally found someone who could articulate my ideas sonically. I think “Doing It” and “Need Ur Love” are really good songs. I was sort of angry while making it, and it came out in this weird pop-punk way. With True Romance, I do really love that album. Being surrounded by so many artists in the gay community is really inspiring because there are so many things that connect queer culture and underground culture. I grew up performing music at raves in London, where the LGBTQ+ community was prominent, and I learned about club kids, fashion, DJs, and nightlife.
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I was like, I want that! and had no idea how to get it until the mixtapes. It really felt like they were a community where they all collaborated. I thought: Fuck, I want a crew, some people I can bounce my ideas off! I was really inspired by this French electro label, Ed Banger Records, which released people like Uffie and Justice. In high school, I was making music, but I didn’t feel like I had anyone to share that with. It’s funny-that wasn’t actually an intention, but it’s something I’ve always wanted. Sky is just one example, but you seem to have assembled your own little clique of like-minded artists in the pop world. She’s someone I could learn a lot from, so I want her to be able to do whatever she wants to do at her pace because it’s just cool for me to see that. With Sky, I’m so interested in her music and her language because I think she’s so different, and she always has been. I like them because of what they do, so I wanna enhance that. But I don’t want them to stress out or feel like they have to change themselves to collaborate with me. I think the collaborator needs to feel like they can flex their muscles and do what they do best, and maybe I’ll provide a track or an environment that’s a little weird, so they can freak out a bit. I know there’s this whole thing about taking people out of their comfort zone, but I’d rather do that to the listener than the collaborator. While the one-two punch of “ Boom Clap” and “ Fancy” established Charli as a mainstream hitmaker, the transition from her bubblegum roots to the glitchy, experimental production of recent mixtapes and one-off singles have turned her into a modern pop savant.ĭo you prefer collaborating with artists you have a relationship with, like Sky Ferreira? After collaborating with Icona Pop on the 2013 hit “I Love It,” Charli became pop’s go-to songwriter for superstars like Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, and Camila Cabello. Right now, we’re discussing Charli, her third studio album of thrilling and forward-thinking pop, and her first major-label release in five years. “I just feel ready to do something drastic, and I’ve been properly thinking and making stuff the past couple of months,” Charli says, realizing she might be getting too far ahead of herself. Yet sitting across from me in her midtown Manhattan hotel room, Charli-a self-proclaimed workaholic-is talking about the musical follow-up she already has in the works. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter released her new album Charli this month and launched the accompanying sold-out tour across Europe and North America.

Charli XCX’s music sounds best blasted in the sweat-and-vodka-soaked back rooms of underground clubs and seedy bars, but she hasn’t had much time for partying lately.
