Ever since the release of her futuristic 2016 EP Vroom Vroom, Charli XCX has been recognised as a pioneering popstar who isn’t afraid to experiment and push boundaries. However, her first album in 5 years proves that she’s not just unafraid to experiment; she’s eager to.
Charli highlights a new environment that the pop landscape can thrive in, because, above all and despite its unique electronic production (thanks largely to A.G Cook of PC Music), Charli is unashamedly a pop record. Delighting in catchy hooks, glorious melodies and bright, ear-catching instrumentation, Charli sees the beauty and value of pop and the sheer fun and happiness it can evoke.
Charli also displays the power within pop. Despite her reputation as a party queen and her songs that play into this image, Charli showcases a more complex and personal look into the singer’s mind as she begs for forgiveness from a loved one in ‘February 2017’, exclaims her feelings of worthlessness in ‘White Mercedes’ and croons about heartbreak and betrayal in ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’. The latter two of these provide shining examples of her talent in both singing and writing, not only due to their emotive and beautiful lyrical content, but as they are two of the six tracks on the album (15 in total) in which Charli XCX performs alone.
However, while Charli proves herself as a talented solo artist in this album, her well known knack for curating collaborations is again highlighted in all its glory consistently throughout the album. One shining example of this is the utterly insane and infectious ‘Shake It’ which features Big Freedia, Cupcakke, Brooke Candy and Pabllo Vittar within its 4 minute and 35 second duration. But while this is arguably one of the best collaborations on the album, each and every collaboration works flawlessly.
While some people might still (wrongly) believe all pop music to be generic, I think it’s fair to say that there is nobody doing what Charli XCX does. But that’s right now. The future might tell a different story.
Words by Emma Reilly