CharliE

The Artist

Charli xcx is an English singer-songwriter who started posting songs online as a teenager and spent years straddling the pop mainstream and its experimental fringe. She co-wrote and sang on big hits in the early 2010s and scored chart success of her own. Her mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 then pushed her toward glitchy, futuristic club pop and a crowded cast of collaborators. That pairing of hooks and avant-garde production defines her. Charli, her third studio album, tries to fold the mixtape experiments into a major-label statement.

The Album

Charli was released in September 2019, with longtime collaborator A. G. Cook serving as executive producer and steering its metallic, hyper-processed sound. It keeps the guest-heavy approach of Pop 2, drawing on a roster of friends and rising stars. Singles rolled out for months before release, and the album also reworks one fan-favorite mixtape track into a polished version. Production swings between glossy radio pop and abrasive, distorted club experiments. Thematically, it wrestles with anxiety, intimacy, fame, and the pull between nostalgia and the future.

Listen For

Past and future. "1999" looks back at a youth soaked in pop culture, while the closer "2099" imagines an era far ahead. Notice how the production on each matches its timeframe.

Controlled collapse. "Click" opens as a swaggering posse cut, then its final stretch disintegrates into clanging, industrial noise. Listen for the moment the song stops behaving like pop.

Auto-Tune as emotion. On "White Mercedes," heavy vocal processing makes a story of feeling unworthy in love sound fragile. The effect adds ache instead of just shine.

Mixtape callback. "Blame It on Your Love" rebuilds a Pop 2 fan favorite into a bright, radio-ready shape. Compare its punchier structure to Charli's looser mixtape style.

Plainspoken vulnerability. "Official" drops the bravado for small, domestic details of a relationship becoming real. Its softness stands out on such a loud record.