Charli XCX

Plenty of other people around if you want that, doesn’t feel like this is what she wants to be at all and likes to do her own thing.

― Chewshabadoo,

I don't want that for her but for a while it seemed like she did. Part of what makes this album a delight after my second listen is how she doesn't give a fuck anymore. She and her producers have manipulated a bunch of cool-sounding electronic burps and screeches and big synth bass for the sake of songs about how to face the life you've ignored after you've been out partying. (I still don't like "Von Dutch").

it was only really crash that was a deliberate attempt at commercial success, which didn't even really work as that and was all the worse for her trying

That makes me think more of "Charli" ("Crash" did go to #1). But yes this album is supposed to be (and on first listen,yeah,sounds like) a harder turn into weirdpop/what she's purporting to really want to do. Maybe she got better terms on her renewed record deal idk

didn’t like “von dutch” much as a standalone, but luckily it’s probably my least favorite on here. “club classics” is indeed a mega classic(“i just wanna hear me when i’m on the dance floor”), also love “everything is romantic” (“falling in love agayne and agayne”), “rewind,” and “girl, so confusing”

honestly most songs are highlights, this is great

charli felt more like a weird compromise-with-the-label than anything else, like it was just a bit of a mess and seemed to be a few different projects cobbled together

don't know if this is showing up anywhere else, but on spotify she changed the art on all of her previous albums to match the style of the BRAT cover

pop 2 & how i'm feeling now were definitely not her aiming for or caring about commercial success and were brilliant (although given "unlock it" later having a bit of tiktok success she might have been able to get more out of it if her label had done any promotion at all when it was released)

yes true. "pop 2" was a "mixtape" though. and "how i'm feeling now" i'm thinking sort of a deep-in-lockdown easier sell to the label?

crash being an attempt at selling out was very much on her own terms from everything she's said, it's never sounded like it was due to label pressure or anything. i just wish she'd stuck more to the original new jack swing concept she had, the tracks that lean into that were great. she got too cynical with her sell out moves and didn't play to her strengths much

“mean girls” is hyper-Kesha (complimentary). the piano part’s left hand is basically “outstanding” by the gap band

she had a bunch of trouble with her label with sucker and charli but it seems like after charli they just gave up on trying to force anything and let her do what she wanted

As I just muttered elsewhere, Brat is a good pump-up-in-the-morning listen as it is a good later evening one, I'm finding.

"So I" so beautiful!

it’s Charli baby

maybe this is even better than pop 2

no mildly grating features for one

nothing tops P2, despite the verse on Femmebot

how i'm feeling now is absolutely her best

^yes

this one's great but the lyrics possibly a limiting factor

got my hopes up because the p4k review made it sound like it was gonna have bloghouse production. but it sounds m/l the same as everything else she's done the last few years? maybe top 40 with some touches of hyper pop is basically the same thing

The new album is so great. I'm surprised to find myself loving the ballads as much as I am. So I is absolutely devastating. I'm really into I Think About It All The Time as well. It gives me Air vibes.

She's got such a solid back catalogue now. I'd rank them like this:

Pop 2
How I'm Feeling Now
True Romance
Brat
Sucker (this is so underrated now)
Charli (needs a slight trim, but does contain some of her best songs)
Number 1 Angel
Crash (definitely not as bad as some people make out)

Nailed it for me!

my ranking is something like:

how i'm feeling now
brat
pop 2

(all the leaked unreleased material from the original version of her third album)

number 1 angel
crash
true romance
charli

sucker

I’m broad minded and variable in my preferences but on no planet is this album better than Pop 2. Maybe hifn is her best, depending on the day.

but overall I’m thrilled brat is so good we’re having these arguments in the first place.

i think pop 2 has higher highs in "backseat", "unlock it" and "track 10" but brat is just a better listen overall, it's a more relaxed vibe, no features, etc.

“von dutch” my favorite track on second listen. such a sick beat

It’s time to admit I was relieved to see no appearances by Christine and the Queens

I find them insufferable tbh

Oh boy, there's more!

Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not - Out at midnight. pic.twitter.com/XFbOQsRqDX

— Charli (@charli_xcx) June 10, 2024

the bonus tracks are good but hardly feel like they really needed to be on the album or anything

"hello goodbye" is excellent though

I think both “hello goodbye” and “guess” are good enough for the album

i just mean that it's not like the crash bonus tracks which were better than most of the album, for instance. they're not a step down either

Aha nice, that electro-house-revival track with The Dare I posted a video too before is one of these tracks.

Yeah “Guess” has me flashing on the Ewan remix of “Perspex Sex” a bit

Don't get the reasoning for releasing a deluxe version of the album the same week as the regular version - or maybe i'm just too old

chart positioning

speaking of, new Pitchfork article on the deluxe notes:

the album has already surpassed 2022’s Crash as Charli XCX’s biggest streaming debut on Spotify; Brat had 15.4 million streams on its release day, whereas Crash racked up 5.9 million.

nice!

only managed a couple of listens so far. love it.

Feel like this album really has social media zeitgeist effects behind it in a way previous albums didn’t - though I guess Crash was not so long ago that if it couldn’t have benefited from that kind of thing as well in the right circumstances.

I think my favourite part of the album is the cut-up vocal on the chorus for “365” when it sounds like she’s singing “when I’m in the club - no I’m not”. A position I would hard identify with if it was what she was actually singing (it’s not).

I think my favourite part of the album is the cut-up vocal on the chorus for “365”

yes! all those little elements really work great on this.

apropos of nothing, I also thought the 'work angles' lyric in 360 was something about cankles.

i haven't really loved much that she's done since pop 2 but this album is great. the production in places has that same sorta airiness to it, tempos that almost remind me of like 90s atl bass music. when she sings "you gon jump cuz AG made it" on "360" it maps almost perfectly over missy elliott shouting "jazze made it! on "1, 2 step" ... this album has some of that like walking on air quality that i love about i.e. early ciara. and then for me some of the more harder, dissonant PC music stuff plays well as contrast, and there's a lot of effective hard/soft interplay for me between the beats and melodies on those records that i don't normally appreciate as much. something like "mean girls" having those house pianos that burst thru halfway thru etc

i also like a lot of the spoken word bits. it feels like she got to a place emotionally w/ this record that is resonating w/ ppl. i don't think honesty is the right word... emotional clarity? idk. but stuff like "rewind" or "so i" that are based on subjects (fame, death) that so often lead to mawkish music feel really deftly done to me here. for what she does i think she kinda knocked this one out of the park, shoutout to her. super fun show last night too

I can’t think of another genius level auteur operating in this genre/domain. Maybe only producers? Gaga probably but her music doesn’t speak to me like Charli’s. I guess Madge is the template but not quite the same.

xxp Though i figured i must be wrong, i kept singing "wear Kangols"

me too.

(all the leaked unreleased material from the original version of her third album)

does the Focus/No Angel single line up with this time? I still play that all the time, and I need to give those bootlegs a proper listen (the "XCX World" stuff, right?)

"no angel" and "girls night out" were definitely intended for the album but "focus" and "5 in the morning" were recorded a little later so i'm not sure if they were ever considered as part of that project. there's a lot of leaked material from 2016-2018 and it's not clear exactly how it all fits together - there was never a finalised tracklist or anything

dying at this post over in the old folks' home

https://i.imgur.com/U6sEUjz.png