Charli XCX Starter Pack
Mary: Following in Susan and Kelli’s footsteps, we present to you another important artist you should be listening to on repeat. Every day. In all stages of life.
We present, Charli XCX.
Chances are, like CRJ, you probably already know some of Charli’s work, but you may not know you’re familiar with her. We’re here to reintroduce you to some of those older songs you may know while also exploring her more experimental pop bangers.
Todd: Truly, Charli XCX (aka Charlotte Aitchison) is one of the most influential pop artists of the last decade, and while she is not necessarily a household name, she has still had a hand in shaping the sound of pop music.
Charli began writing songs back on Myspace (remember Myspace???) and was signed to a record deal at a young age. Since those days, she has managed to forge her own path while also penning hit songs for other artists like Selena Gomez and Camila Cabello.
Mary: I want to personally note that this list was extremely difficult to narrow down, especially in terms of her later albums. There are too many bangers.
Todd: Truly! Almost all of her songs are worthy of a listen or two, but these are the ones that you must hear to understand Charli. We’re going roughly in chronological order, so you will get to hear Charli progress as the list goes on.
“You––Ha Ha Ha” - True Romance (2013)
Mary: This is one of my faves from Charli’s earlier work because it encapsulates her ability to still have fun while also saying something emotional and important. And also, she is literally laughing in a dude’s face. This is an important foreshadowing of the energy Charli brings to the table IMO.
Todd: Totally! The video game-like sound effects throughout are mesmerizing and bring to mind later songs like “Boys,” while the verses are peak Charli--more like emotional talking than pure singing. Her first album might seem more “rough” in comparison to her later stuff, but its songs like “You” that demonstrate her abilities as an artist.
“Boom Clap”––Sucker (2014)
Mary: You probably know this song because it got a lot of radio play and was featured in a little movie called The Fault in Our Stars (which I greatly dislike, but that’s not the point!).
Todd: Charli is mostly known for her bangers, and rightly so, but with “Boom Clap,” she also shows her ability to craft a really tender and heartfelt ballad.
Mary: This strikes me as a kind of more innocent, young person ballad, you know? It sounds young to me, especially in some of the lyrics. For example, when she says, “First kiss just like a drug,” I can’t help but think, OK this is something a 15 year old would say. But also, there are more complicated things going on here. In the line just before that, she sings, “Stars shining as your bones illuminate,” which, while I couldn’t tell you exactly what it means, evokes a feeling of the ethereal, the hard to capture moment of falling in love with someone.
Todd: Right. This song is perfect at capturing that feeling when you are falling in love with someone, and that metaphor of a drumbeat in the chorus is so perfect in this moment. It combines Charli’s knowledge of production with a feeling that anyone can relate to.
“Vroom Vroom”--The Vroom Vroom EP (2016)
Mary: LET’S RIDE.
Todd: HERE. WE. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Mary: I argue this is when Charli became Charli XCX, queen of pop music. This EP marks the beginning of Charli’s collaborations with PC Music, and especially SOPHIE and later, AG Cook. The lyrics here are full of bad girl posturing, bragging about cars, wanting to drive fast, and touting how superior Charli is to all the other girls. BUT, somehow this track doesn’t seem like a basic put-down of other girls to me. Instead, it’s a celebration of an underdog coming into their own. On the bridge, Charli sings, “All my life, I’ve been waiting for a good time.” She’s waited for her moment to Vroom Vroom and be cool, and now it’s here.
Todd: The song is also so hard. Every beat hits you right in the chest, and the verses are so intense that they feel more like something you would headbang or mosh to, rather than something you would dance to at a club. This is true of the rest of the Vroom Vroom EP as well (check out “Paradise” with Hannah Diamond if you dig this style but want it more blissed out), and it brings such a different energy to what Charli is doing while still being completely Charli.
Mary: This is also where Charli begins to envision her fashion aesthetic. Lots of leather and revealing (and badass) looks in the music video.
Todd: The music video is basically a statement of purpose for this era of Charli. It’s great.
“3AM”--Number 1 Angel (2017)
Todd: It was very difficult to boil down Number 1 Angel, the first of 2 mixtapes that Charli released in 2017, to only a few songs, but this track, which features MØ, is a great example of what these mixtapes represent--Charli, putting herself out there and collaborating with some of the most outré voices in pop music. This song is just full of hooks from beginning to end. Try listening to it once and then not singing “Da da da.”
Mary: I’m going to take it down an intellectual notch and say what needs to be said. This is a booty call song.
Todd: Oh, definitely. But it’s also about Charli standing up for herself. You go, Charli!
Mary: Also, there’s nothing wrong with a booty call song! What I like about this song is something that Charli continues to do from this point on, something I love in every pop song that does it: catchy nonsense melodies. DA DA DA! It’s the most fun to sing along to.
Todd: In their own ways, both of these mixtapes build on top of each other, reaching their apex at Charli. It’s fun to look back on these mixtapes and see how they helped Charli get to where she is today. These mixtapes are also fun because they really feel like she was giving a middle finger to her label, which tried to pigeonhole her into more formulaic pop music (like “After the Afterparty,” which is not bad but not as good as the stuff Charli was doing on her own).
“Lipgloss” feat. CupcakKe––Number 1 Angel
Mary: This song marks a big moment for Charli, the beginning of her collaborations with CupcakKe, the VERY YOUNG bad girl rapper who boldly talks about her sexuality and is just straight up freaky IMO. CupcakKe isn’t shy, and that’s an asset in this song, which is essentially an ode to cunnilingus.
Todd: This is my favorite song on Number 1 Angel, because it is so catchy, but I also blush furiously whenever I remember the lyrics. If you picked any random CupcakKe line, we would probably need to censor it. Which can be fun! There is a certain joy in reveling in your sexuality, a thing both Charli and CupcakKe do with great aplomb.
Mary: I want to note that one time I started playing this song for my sister and it was very embarrassing and I turned it off immediately. Charli is very forward about her sexuality, and it’s really awesome to see a female pop singer celebrating her sexuality and being proud of it, not in terms of how she can attract men, but in terms of how she enjoys it!
Todd: My favorite part is probably the last 40 seconds, where the song just breaks down and we are left with Charli saying “It’s Charli, baby” about 20 times in a row. It is delightful and is the perfect way to end her first triumphant mixtape of 2017. Guess what: it IS Charli, baby!
Number 1 Angel Honorable Mentions:
“I Got It” feat. Brooke Candy, CupcakKe, Pabllo Vittar–– Pop 2 (2017)
Mary: Pop 2 and Charli both feature massive collaborations with multiple artists, and both songs are absolute bangers, meant to be played loud and proud and probably in the dark for maximum dancing. CupcakKe returns for this track and gives us the beautiful line, “So many offers on the table/ a bitch gotta eat on the couch.”
This song is celebrating how all of the artists represented “got it,” got the swagger, style, and confidence needed to be bold bad bitches. And what a cast of ladies we have on this track. Brooke Candy, frankly, scares me. Her 2019 album Sexorcism basically tells you everything you need to know about her. Here, on Charli’s album, she brings her signature sense of revelling in her own sexuality (something she and CupcakKe both do well). Brazillian drag performer and songwriter Pabllo Vittar rounds out the track with a verse in Portuguese, adding a melodic element to things.
This song is a great example of something I think Charli does well: employ other artists to say what she wants to say but isn’t going to. CupcakKe and Brooke Candy get downright explicit, but Charli’s verse is very subdued in comparison, talking about “crashing your daddy’s Lamborghini,” but not, you know, explicit sex. Charli does this all the time! She surrounds herself with artists who will get explicit, but she herself always just toes the line. I kind of like this about her? It allows her to highlight other artists and maintain a certain image for herself. She endorses everything everyone says and Charli is 100% into it, but she doesn’t always say it herself, you know?
Todd: This song scares me.
Mary: Todd, no. You love this song!
Todd: You’re in on it! You are trying mesmerize me!
But truly, this is a fun song, and the beat is, once again, punishing in all the best ways. It is sort of the opposite of a ballad, and I love that Charli includes songs like this on her albums. They are very cathartic.
“Femmebot” feat. Dorian Electra and Mykki Blanco––Pop 2
Todd: If this song had only included its insanely catchy chorus, that would have been enough. But then Charli blessed us with Dorian Electra, and our lives were never the same.
Mary: Oh, Dorian Electra, a gift to all of us! Truly a beloved artist in their own right.
Todd: Mmhmm. Check out “Flamboyant” or “Daddy Like” if you are unfamiliar with Dorian Electra.
Mary: Dorian Electra is a nonbinary pop artist that is doing experimental things in the same vein as Charli XCX, but with a different focus. They have a lot of wonderful music videos (a couple of which Todd linked above) that play with gender in an exciting way. I’m looking forward to seeing more pop stars confront the construction of gender, for sure.
Todd: This song, especially coming right after “I Got It,” feels light and warm and fuzzy, despite its “cold” subject matter. It would be easy to write a song like “Femmebot” and make everything too arch or ironic (like another noted “robot” artist and PC Music member, QT), but even when the vocals are being distorted in the song, there is a real human feeling to every line in this song, as if Charli is incapable of coming across as anything other than simultaneously vulnerable and totally in control of the situation.
“Unlock It” feat. Kim Petras
Todd: Look, we have already talked about a lot of songs, but I would feel remiss if we did not mention “Unlock It,” featuring Kim Petras. This song is basically one big hook that gets repeated ad infinitum until it is lodged firmly in your brain. The song is a fan favorite and it is not hard to see why: it’s sugary sweet and simply so much fun to sing along with. You got my heart! Try to unlock it!
Pop 2 Honorable Mentions:
“Backseat” feat. CRJ (!), “Track 10,” Porsche,” OK, all of them. They’re all good.
“Gone” feat. Christine and the Queens––Charli (2019)
Todd: Before releasing Charli the album, Charli the artist dropped many of the songs, including this one, which became the first single and perhaps the biggest song from the album to date. It is truly a banger about taking on people who make you feel bad about yourself.
Mary: This was a very exciting time for us. She essentially released most of the album week by week and it felt like a major F-you to the music industry. I was here for it.
Todd: It was great! And Christine and the Queens is so great on this track. I am not super familiar with the other music she has released, but the chemistry between Chris and Charli on this track is intense and palpable.
Mary: Notably, AG Cook helped produce this song, and we can hear that in the harsh-sounding synthy beat, which manages to sound danceable while still conveying the frustrated lyrics of the song.
Todd: Yup, and the glitchy dance-break bridge perfectly breaks down the song into its component parts. It is a very danceable song!
Mary: Additionally, the music video is hot!
“February 2017” feat. Clairo and Yaeji—Charli
Todd: This might be one of my favorites from the album. It is the shortest track on the album, clocking in at only 2:33, but it packs a punch and really feels like a culmination of all of the things that Charli has been doing previously. The lyrics feel like the most personal ones to date, mentioning specifics like “Grammy night” and Charli wondering if she has messed up this relationship forever. The addition of Clairo and Yaeji seems like it comes out of left field but fits perfectly with the tone of the song.
Mary: I want to note here that the art for this album particularly is stunning. Even though several of the promotional tracks, like this one, don’t have music videos, they do have “living makeup” by Ines Alpha, which lends to the futuristic feel Charli’s going for. We are truly living in 2099 with this album.
I’ve long been a fan of Yaeji, and I think she’s a perfect fit to work with Charli and a good example of how this album specifically highlights a lot of wonderful women working in the music industry. That’s one thing I don’t think we’ve mentioned explicitly, but that’s evident from all the guest artists featured in our favorite songs: Charli loves promoting other women, and that is very cool.
This song specifically is a favorite of mine because it’s emotionally vulnerable. Charli’s verse is, as Todd mentioned, specific, which lends to that vulnerability, but also Yaeji’s brief lines at the end perfectly capture the theme of the song while also giving us some of Yaeji’s signature sound. At the end, Yaeji sings in Korean, “that one word, I said so timidly, isn’t it too late to apologize for saying that? I’m sorry.” As someone working in both Korea and America as a DJ and songwriter, this is a great way to showcase Yaeji’s background while also saying something EXTREMELY personal. Everyone has wondered at some point if they’ve messed up royally by saying the wrong thing, and Yaeji’s heartfelt, meek vocals at the end capture that feeling.
Charli Honorable Mentions
“Warm” feat. Haim, “Shake It” feat. Big Freedia, CupcakKe, Brooke Candy, Pabllo Vittar
“Boys”--a notable single (2017)
Mary: This song became a bit meme-famous in the summer of 2017, with good reason. The song is about Charli apologizing for not hanging out with her friends more, because, well, she was too busy thinking about boys. The music video for this single is wild, and features a who’s who of boys from pop culture just...being boys? IDK.
Todd: The video is great. It flips the script by putting boys in the position that women are usually put in. It was directed by Charli herself, so clearly this is something that she had been thinking about. This song is so great. The verses are basically just Charli listing all the boys she wants, and the chorus is so catchy! Also, that Mario coin sound? Perfect! Charli gets those boys just like Mario getting those coins.
Singles Honorable Mentions
“SuperLove,” “Bitches” by Tove Lo feat. Charli XCX, Icona Pop, Elliphant, and ALMA, “5 in the Morning,” “Dream Glow” BTS feat Charli XCX
Honestly, we have only scratched the surface! Let us know your favorite Charli bangers in the comments or by dropping us a line @booksquadgoals on social media! Thanks, Angels!