Being Charli XCX is very fashionable right now, and she knows it. Her commercial peak is most likely behind her, but the critical respect has never been higher. She’s more popular than a cult classic, but niche enough to be cool.
Other people want to be her, , and she has a point. Camila Cabello, for one, has been accused, both by fans and by Charli herself, of and musical style with her recent single “I Luv It.” Katy Perry has traded kitschy wigs for as she tiptoes toward a potential comeback record.
Charli has proven that a pop star’s career can peak long after mainstream popularity has crested. It’s no surprise other pop stars want in. Charli knows this, and the new album , released today, is aptly named.
While never exactly humble in her lyrics, this self-proclaimed troll doesn’t pull any punches here. Beyond the bizarrely discourse-generating album art, Charli uses the album as her chance to talk her shit, usually about how great she is, but occasionally about how annoying someone else is. She wryly name-drops famous friends in the single “360,” which opens with the lyric “I went my own way and I made it/I’m your favorite reference, baby.
” It’s hard to disagree. After achieving a smattering of hits on both sides of the Atlantic a decade ago—“I Love It,” “Fancy,” “Boom Clap”—the artist, born Charlotte Aitchison, zagged. She worked with left-of-field collective PC Music and found kindred spirits in producers A.
G. Cook and late pionee.
