Over the course of five studio albums, four mixtapes, three EPs and a string of feature films, Charli XCX has proven to be one of pop music’s coolest, most agile and bravest stars. So it’s almost easy to forget that the British star has only been in the business for ten years – she burst onto the scene with her debut album. true romance10 years ago today, April 12, 2013.
bombastic pop true romance Even as a teenager growing up in Cambridge, Charli was on her way to becoming a star. At 16, he played regularly at warehouse parties in London and made waves on his MySpace page with his first singles. It took some time to release her own work, but at the age of 20 she officially entered the world of pop with the co-author of an unforgettable feature film and Icona Pop’s beloved gang member “I Love It.” Although Charli technically gave the song to the Swedish duo because it didn’t fit her “look” at the time, the song’s sugary, roaring production and bellowing, failing chorus would eventually become a key component of her own art. ethos
From her instinctive mix of gum and experimental pop to her masterful lyrics about regret and heartbreak, Charli’s vision of making lively, fun party music that oscillates between chaotic and melancholy was a sharp focus from the very beginning, often simultaneously. across 13 tracks, true romance She deftly absorbed Charli’s crazy-boy energy with her very raw, honest, real experiences detailing her own romantic past, she kept coming back to this theme over and over.
While it will take another year for Charli to make her first #1 hit for another feature film, this time in Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”—true romance It featured a consistently confident, lucid, sweet list of pop songs that felt perfectly in their own moments. And ahead of the moment, establishing Charli as a true pop star.
Charli’s albums consistently start strong, and her debut is no different: the hazy, evocative opening “Nuclear Seasons”, the massive, Golden Panda-sampled “You (Ha Ha Ha)” and the shimmering “Take My Hand” starts. true romance On a high note, each song plunges us into its sonic world of decadence and adventure. In the striking, deep-cut “Stay Away,” he deftly balanced the upbeat and low kicks. twilight-inspiring “Set Me Free” (Feel My Pain), the dreamy “You’re the One” and Todd Rundgren’s interpolation “So Far Away”. Songs like “Grins”, “What I Like” and “Black Roses” sway her, while hip-hop-inspired “Cloud Aura” featuring Brooke Candy flirts with the limits of Charli’s interest in genre fluidity to somewhat uneven effect. strengthened it. the ability to transform the familiar into something cathartic and addictive.
true romance laid out a solid, reliable template for the rest of his discography to follow and build upon. It captured the sheer exhilaration of falling in love, the crushing defeat of unrequited love, and the bright-eyed optimism of being able to heal your wounds after the storm has passed. Talking about “Nuclear Seasons”, Charli compared the song to “being in a lavender field with purple clouds”. The same can be said of the majority of the record: feeling lost and aimless when surrounded by a rich, colorful tapestry of roses, jewels, and other beautiful, delicate things.
The album’s glittery/vintage aesthetic, its Tony Scott title, and its brooding thoughts on cultural decay were particularly appealing at the height of the Tumblr era in 2013. Edge: The kind you see in the record aisle at Urban Outfitters. With her necklace, ripped jeans, platform boots, wavy purple-streaked hair, and cat-eye eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man, Charli was the Tumblr incarnation, representing an alternative hybrid between the edgy yet accessible Lorde and the light yet political MARINA. (fka Marina and Diamonds).
Since then, Charli has developed her image but has continued to push the boundaries. She made the appearance in a slick ponytail and PVC catsuit during. Vroom period, a pink-toned bob for the avant-garde Pop 2 and more commercial Charlieand a devilish, seductive look while promoting the Cronenberg-inspired model ACCIDENT. Yet as Charli’s pop star identity became brighter and more textured with each successive era, she expressed that rebellious, exploratory spirit. true romance It remained intact. In fact, much of the DNA of his later work can be traced back to this recording. sucker“Boom Clap” and “Doing It” echoed true romanceA tribute to the 80’s New Wave. ballads like Charlie‘White Mercedes’ and how do i feel nowThe pain of “forever”, with the same loneliness as shown in “Stay Away”. Charli herself said ACCIDENT was for true romance angels”, which in some ways feels like a sexier, more sinister spiritual twin.
Additionally, true romance It deserves praise for anticipating Charli’s keen instinct for creative collaboration. In both its debut and sequel, 2014’s underrated rock-inspired suckerCharli has worked with prolific Los Angeles-born producer Ariel Rechtshaid, behind other notable 2013 pop debuts such as The Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah”, Usher’s “Climax” and Sky Ferreira’s. Night Time, My Time and HAIMs Days Are Gone. She then joined the PC Music collective with hyperpop producers AG Cook and SOPHIE, while Charli delved deeper into her electronic roots. Vroom EP, Angel Number 1 And Pop 2 mixtapes and exceptional one-off singles like “Boys” and “No Angel”. When the pandemic hit, Charli made her do-it-yourself antidote to dystopia how do i feel right now Within six weeks, he asked his own fans to help him choose song titles and single cover art via Zoom. Almost every collaborative effort Charli has made since then true romance continued to serve him only well by expanding and questioning how pop music can sound by making meaningful, ambitious, entertaining art with other talented people.
However, despite garnering critical admiration and an extremely loyal, predominantly queer fan base, it has since true romanceIt’s frustrating that Charli’s more punk sensibilities have not been widely accepted by the wider public and are often suppressed by commercial interests. Charli was not taken seriously even early in her career, infamously mistaken for Lorde in an interview, and her performance of “I Love It” memorably struggled to excite an unenthusiastic German crowd. The hit songs he wrote for Icona Pop, Iggy Azalea, Selena Gomez and other artists including Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello somehow had more chart life and radio ubiquity than her own work. An online leak of what his third studio will be as he starts accumulating more influence album, XCX World, which caused him to scrap it completely. The polarized acceptance of the unjustly vilified Vroom EP and on TV potential performances XCX World The songs “Bounce” and “After the Afterparty” also seemed to cast a dark shadow over the now mythological record.
But despite all the professional and emotional hurdles of trying to achieve fame and cultural relevance, Charli has often expressed her frustrations with a wily sense of humor—to her fans, her former label Atlantic Records, and the music industry in general. not including now and again ventilate). He changed the sassy lyrics that played Atlantic, trolled, or pretended to be angry at people’s requests to play him XCX World Follow and posted “Taxi” gaping tweets About being scorned for a Grammy nomination. Regarding the mistaken identity thing, she simply complied with it, pretending to talk about how she found “The Royals” and then joking about wanting to dress up as Lorde for Halloween. And his hilariously angry hymn during the “I Love It” concert – “I thought this damn song was big in Germany!” – He was immortalized as an internet meme in 2018.
As a performer and artist, Charli XCX stands out not only for embracing the absurdity of these moments, but also for openly sharing her flaws and doubts about her ambiguous status in the pop world through her music, interviews, and social media. Walking this very fine line between self-contempt and crude honesty was exactly what enlivened her debut: an unconventional, trend-defying soundscape in which Charli could convey her longings and the challenges of finding her place in the world. Now, ten years later, Charli’s work remains a little cleverer and even more disruptive, but still just as exciting and versatile as before. true romance.