The general narrative of mainstream pop-mega-stars and pop-mega-stardom has changed massively since the perfect, pre-packaged, plastic pop Princes and Princesses of the ’90s and early ’00s. With the rise of the internet, the blogosphere and then social media we were given a (faux) proximity to our pop stars that we never had before. This changed our relationship with them and them with us. Instead of pop stars being portrayed as untouchable, unknowable mega-beings. They were portrayed to us as ‘just like us’ normal everyday beings that happened to be some of the best known people in the world. Likeableness and nicessness became a commodity that they traded in, regardless of its authenticity. If they are (were?) ‘just like us’ then this mirror reflection of ourselves should be a nice, likeable reflection.
Charlie XCX has just chucked a grenade into the middle of all of this shit.
We start every review of an Album of the Month with the question ‘what did you expect and what did you get?’. Never has the cover art of an AOTM helped us answer the first part of the question so much. The album cover very clearly tells you what to expect; expect luminous green, expect brash, expect brat-ishness, expect green-with-envy, expect bitchiness and expect bold, brave honesty’. You do get all of this, but I’d argue, not as unlike-ably bratish as I was expecting.
It’s impossible to ignore the critical reaction to this album. It is currently sitting as Metacritic’s no.1 ranked album of the year with a 95/100 score from 24 reviews – take a look. The first 7 reviews are 100%. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. This is Charlie’s 6th album, the culmination of 15 years of making music and 10 years and 5 previous albums of recording music. She’s managed to create a cult, niche status and persona despite massive commercial success. Charlie’s rise to stardom started with making music in her bedroom, sharing on social media, playing at raves and parties … the club is strong in her past and her present. This is pop record for the clubs. You can feel, smell and taste the sweat on your skin if you let yourself. There’s always been something of an edge to her that seems to cut deeper than the record company’s desired facade.
So what is this album? It’s 16 tracks. It’s 41 minutes. That means the average track length is comfortably under 3 mins. The longest track is only 3 mins 23. The shortest 1 min 49. But none of them are interludes. It must be said, if you don’t like a specific track, it’s gone before you know. I genuinely wouldn’t lose a single track. And I would not change the sequence of tracks at all. There are some that resonate more than others of course, but even the most brash, the most brat-ish tracks do something for me that I really like. Yeah get scuzzy, sleazy, bleary eyed nights out but you also get anxiety, envy, self-conciousness, self-awareness and moments of pure self confidence and agency all wrapped in a perfect pop sheen.
Let’s talk about envy, many of the tracks on this album are about Charli’s status as a pop star and how this compares to her contemporary mega-stars. But there are two that stand out ‘Girl, So Confusing’ (clearly about Lorde) and ‘Sympathy is a Knife’ (clearly about old Swifty). There are a lot of emotions to talk about here. None of them are emotions that most people are proud of and far fewer willing to write songs about. In a recent podcast (listen here) she talks about this in majestic honesty and with great impact …
‘This is my favourite part of the high-art-ness of music and the low-art-ness of popstar, pop-culture, this brings the three dimensional world to songs’ i.e. it’s the real, the honest, the real-life and real-emotions of human existence that make things relatable and real. She also goes on to say ‘I don’t think you’re a bad feminist just cause you don’t see eye to eye with every woman.’
I think this album is massively strong lyrically speaking, it’s the secret sauce. She is not a poet. She is not trying to be. She’s talked about writing lyrics differently for this album, which is something I’d noticed before hearing that interview. She writes lyrics like she’s texting or updating the group chat. I chose these examples carefully as the lyrics feel like intimate messages to people close to her conveyed on digital media … but not public facing digital media. It’s personal, real and raw. Its everyday language. She references people by their first names, her fiance, her producer and friends and collaborators that she’s lost. You feel like she’s sharing, letting you in … but again, with no or minimal facade. She is self conscious and self-deprecating in a very similar way to Amy Winehouse, I find this fascinating, and if I’m honest, a little spooky. Given that I’ve never heard a Charli XCX album before this, I feel like she’s let me know her. An almost identical feeling to hearing ‘Frank’ for this first time.
Let’s end on production. This album could have been recorded WAY WAY scuzzier than it was. The songs are strong enough to carry some major imperfections. There are imperfections, perfectly placed and curated to generate maximum impact. But this a pristine, piece of pop music with the production you would expect from something that will take Charli to the next level of stardom (and is certainly doing that). So, there is plenty of auto-tune, plenty of voice modulation and filters. I’m ok with this. It’s pop music. It’s ‘hyper-pop’, it fits. When discussing Auto Tune on the Tape Notes podcast (listen here) she basically says that she swaps vocal perfection for immediacy, for ‘real’ and that she’s lazy, smokes and drinks so … you know, auto-tune. Fair play Charlie.
Love it or hate it, you’ve got admire it.
I love it. It’s taken some research, some understanding, some exploration of a world I knew very little about to come to that opinion. But this is my kind of pop music. It bangs.
thisisnothappening.net 
Brilliant write up Joey.
This is such an interesting album as for me. You can easily enjoy without much thought the bundle of pop joy that it is and leave it at that, or you can dig into the depth of the lyrics and commentary throughout the album and truly be impressed to a next level.
For transparency, until Joey’s tutelage lead me into a deep dive on this album and the artist, my history with Charlie XCX is minimal at best. I knew she was from the UK, has produced some great pop tracks…. And well that was about it. There’s an element that she is an artist that (cough) I may be too old to relate to (which I’m fine with). It’s been a well worth journey, she’s a very interesting artist.
End to end the album is a fast ride of pop perfection. It’s an interesting point you had about the song length. It’s very reflective of the younger generations. Average song length for the radio have dropped over a minute in the last 5 years, and some think they’re still too long. A key point I suppose is this is pop music. Less is more definitely rings true throughout this album. Each song is all thriller and no filler. I agree with Joey, there isn’t a track that you would drop.
Much has to be said about the squelching base that creeps throughout this album. Headphones, dancefloors and everything in between will be graced with so many tracks from this album for many throughout the summer.
We often talk about perfect sections of albums. For me it’s the modern French disco drenched Talk Talk followed by Von Dutch which is like the D. Ramirez remix of Bobyrock’s Yeah Yeah with a modern twist. It then seamlessly puts on the breaks as you transition to Everything Is Romantic and then pulls back to pace with Rewind.
I’ve not delved into the depth of the songs and lyrics. They’re simple, but super effective throughout. I’d argue they push this album out of the traditional pop sphere.
Over all, I’m very impressed. I still think that I may be a bit too old to be in the Charlie XCX fan club, but I’m a fan. She’s a talent and this album is a pleasure.
D Ramirez! That’s not a name I’ve heard in a long long time, but my god, I totally get that reference. Great shout.
So, here we are. Dozens of listens into an album that zips along and I’m finally in a position to talk about it. Because there’s a lot to say about it, but I’m just not sure I could form it into anything coherent for quick a long time.
First off – brilliant review of this Joey – you’ve said so much about it that I am already trying to work out what I can say that is original. But like Nolan, I have had zero knowledge or experience of her music up to now, barring the realisation I know the track that broke her (I Love It) because, you couldn’t avoid unless you’ve been in a cave for the last 15 years. So in terms of expectation when I first listened, it was a blank slate.
And what on earth did I feel? That’s question 1 pod episode tackle, of course, but honestly, it hits you like a train. And for a while, I was not sure it was one I was wanting to get on. Let’s get two things straight at this point, which are going to inevitably colour my experience of the album:
Right, that’s out the way.
My experience of this album has taken a long time to circumvent these things. At least to a point where I can listen to the album objectively. Because it’s a banger of an album in so many ways, and not just the rasping, hedonistic tracks, but in the many layers it paints. But while – as Nolan says – you can just let this album smash over you again and again, in this sort of pop assault, revelling in its revelry, in the end that’s not what’s going to make it stick around. You need to find that magic sauce, that glitter, that disco ball that makes you want to come back. And for a long while I felt like I’d really enjoy this in the moment and then possibly never come back to it. There’s a parallel with St Vincent here too: an album that’s meticulously made, sounds brilliant, perfectly realised, that hits you right between the eyes, but that may not stick around. The jury is still out here too – ask me again in August, or October.
It’s interesting that I have no prior relationship with Charli. That’s probably no bad thing, given the chequered past of her albums (see here as an example: https://www.popmatters.com/charli-xcx-brat-music-review) and wondering how that would’ve coloured my experience with the album. Because boy, oh boy, there are some awesome tracks on here. From 360’s shimmering opening to its partner, the ‘club journey from mint to totally fucked up’ of 365, it just fizzes with energy. This album is about harnessing the party years: the energy of the club, the weekend, the euphoria, the drink, the drugs, the hangovers, the insecurity, the fame, the anxiety, the fags, the fights, the love, the hate, the comedown. All of it is in here, in a way I’ve not really heard before that can really chime to our clubbing past. It’s something hella impressive to distil that so well into a rocket of a 40-minute pop record.
There’s so much going on here, even before you attack Charli’s career, the lyrics on her pop rivals (I’d struggle to see how anyone would want to listen to Taylor over this, but Billie, that’s another thing entirely), and the wider context on her position in pop, women in pop and pop itself. Club Classics wobbles around into a late-night frenzy, Sympathy Is A Knife’s raw honesty (here comes the autotune, help me), and through the biggest tracks of Von Dutch (you need to watch the video….)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZ1L_0QLjw
As an entity, its so hard not to enjoy. But skipping through the tracks writing this is when the autotune really stands out. I have to almost take my focus off it to not really notice it and let it ruin things. Yes, it’s key to her sound, and that came through the Tape Notes podcast (which I love, but strangely taught me almost nothing about the album here, whereas the NYT Popcast was fantastic) but I just can’t fully ever get over it. Even on amazing tracks like Girl So Confusing, where I just fail to see how it is needed on speech. Vocals? Yup. Speech? Wtf? But when it’s done without such a smack in the chops, you really don’t notice it’s there and you have a chance to breathe.
The sequencing is good, but I’m on St Vincent’s tip here again: Side 2 is much better than 1. From So I…. through to 365 it’s pretty much perfect. Apple is probably the best pure pop song I’ve heard in a while. Mean Girls just makes me laugh. I Think About It All The Time channels Mike Skinner in the best of ways, and 365, well, that very much chimes. The music – I’ll agree with Joey here – is so polished and could be way more scuzzy. That’s definitely something I’d love to have seen more of, but hey, it’s not made for me!
There’s so much to talk about, for an album I simultaneously love and hate. It’s a fascinating pick and a fascinating artist. Bravo Joey, I’d have run a mile.
What a fascinating and thorny choice this is. Thanks for choosing it Joey, it was an inspired idea.
I’m still processing quite what I make of this record, but I’ll avoid repeating what the other brothers have already laid down, and perhaps focus on a couple of things that really stand out for me.
Firstly, this is an astonishing example of an artist delivering an exact, clear, bold artistic vision. It rings out from every song – and that excellent NYT popcast made it even clearer. The “Brat” theme is a great catch-all word for how women are judged, judge themselves, aren’t allowed to be less than perfect. This, for me, is about Charli asking if she can just be a party girl, a fuck up, a jealous person, a bitch about Taylor Swift – in short, can she be a normal person while being a giant megastar?
Second, the music as part of the vision. I’ve been kind of obsessed with the hyperpop of PC Music which has been influencing music now for a good decade or so. A.G. Cook, the mastermind of PC Music, is at a major part of the production team for this album. When PC Music first started releasing music – in particular the artist, Sophie, I found it so jarring I couldn’t even make sense of it. It seemed so naive, so boiled down – like an 8 bit version of pop music, stripped of everything as if it were made on a ZX Spectrum! And that sugary naive vibe I still find hard when I listen to an artist like Hannah Diamond which almost feel like a weird performance art version of pop music. But my god you can hear that Hannah Diamond vocal style on this record – very English, very deadpan, very autotuned. And – shock horror – I kind of love it!
But what’s interesting is how ahead of the curve that sounds was, and how it is nowhere everywhere – Caroline Polachek, K-pop, Katy Perry and so on. It’s quite a mainstream sound now. What’s fascinating about this record is that is a really edgy, pure version of that PC Music sound – like proper broken down, fucked up autotune, stripped back synths, big bass. It’s like Charli has leaned right into the least commercial version of the sound – and ironically, as the NYT popcast pointed out – has resulted in her having one of the biggest albums she’s ever had. It’s savvy as hell – but that’s down to one other big reason – the songs on here ABSOLUTELY slap. What a collection of tunes.
Finally, that thing about this music ‘not being for our age group’. Guy, I totally know what you mean, but I’m also not sure I agree – it’s certainly no less ‘for’ our age group than Billie Eilish or Sudan Archives (as you mentioned on our WhatsApp Joey). Yeah it’s about the club and all that, but I’m not sure we’d box ourselves in about other genres that don’t fit so neatly into our age group/background. So OBVIOUSLY I know what you mean about this making us feel old ha ha! But I also hope we don’t dwell on that too much on the pod, cos this is smart music for anyone with ears.
Great choice, great album. Hyperpoptastic!