Charli Gets Weird
The pop star stops worrying and makes music she can party to.
In the six-year “break” between Charli XCX’s Sucker and Charli (out September 13th), she put out mixtapes, an EP, and six solo releases — and teamed up with Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, and Camila Cabello. Now, Charli’s back from her working vacation and getting serious(-ish). “It’s fun to write songs about cars,” she says of Charli. “But I began to analyze my emotional state.” Here’s how she got it done.
Let It Get Weird
In 2014, Charli’s career blew up, set off by a trio of pop hits: “Fancy” with Iggy Azalea, solo single “Boom Clap,” and omnipresent Icona Pop collaboration “I Love It.” “But did it” — “it” meaning “global success” — ”make me feel fulfilled artistically?” Charli asks. “No.” So for her third album, she stopped worrying and embraced the odd. On dissonantly Auto-Tuned songs like “Click” and “Next Level Charli,” she leans into the organized electronic chaos introduced on mixtape Pop 2. “I’m not thinking, ‘Is this too weird?’ ” Charli says. “I don’t care that it’s not going to get on the radio.”
Make Music
You Can Party To
The last album Charli released wasn’t up to her standards in one crucial way. “Even though I’m very proud of Sucker,” she says, “I knew I wasn’t making the ultimate music I wanted to hear when I was partying.” So this spring, she and PC Music founder
A.G. Cook spent eight weeks recording that ultimate music in
Los Angeles. How did they start the Charli party? “We were like, ‘Fuck it,’” she says. “‘Let’s do it.’ ”
It’s Better Together
Christine and the Queens co-wrote verses for new single “Gone.” Troye Sivan repartnered with Charli for their “1999” followup, “2099,” because, she says she told him, “I love you and I love that song, but now we have to do something for the gays.” And when she came up with stark New Wave jam “Cross You Out,” it was the perfect excuse to finally hook up with Sky Ferreira. (The pair have shared magazine covers and stages since meeting as teens, but never released a song together.) For Charli, collaborating is a master class: “I learn so much.”
Expose
Your Tender Underbelly
In a fit of selfawareness, Charli realized she saw music as a competitive sport. “Sometimes I think
I’m better than every one of you, and other times I feel like I’m literally nothing,” she says of her place in the industry. “There’s so much pressure to be the funniest and know your brand and be the wokest and not upset anyone, but also be provocative. I don’t have to feel like that superhero all the time.”