Charli xcx

Charli xcx’s creative drive and willingness to take risks has made her one of the most enthralling pop artists of her era. Whether she’s penning defiantly joyous singles like “Boom Clap” or exploring her glitchier, chaotic side on “Vroom Vroom”, Charli’s success comes from her work both in and out of pop music’s formulaic lane. Born Charlotte Aitchison in 1992 and raised in Essex, England, to Scottish and Gujarati Indian parents, she took up songwriting at 14, landed a record deal at 18 and hit the big time with 2012’s kiss-off anthem and global dance-floor favourite “I Love It” with Icona Pop. Her goth-tinged debut album, 2013’s True Romance, soon positioned Charli as the missing link between Grimes’ freak scene, Lorde’s dark melodies and Carly Rae Jepsen’s sweetness. But while that and its follow-up Sucker brought Charli a few steps closer to mainstream approval, she found more creative freedom among the esoteric, hyperpop wilds of 2016’s Vroom Vroom EP and 2017’s twin mixtapes, Number 1 Angel and Pop 2. Meanwhile, she built a track record as a prolific songwriter and collaborator, penning pop hits for Iggy Azalea (“Fancy”) and Selena Gomez (“Same Old Love”) and working with the likes of Lil Yachty, David Guetta and BTS. Charli shines brightest when she’s illuminating, breaking down and even critiquing the industry that gives her acclaim. In 2020, she released the intimate how i’m feeling now, an album written in six weeks during the pandemic with live input from her fans. Two years later, she experimented with selling out on her fifth album, CRASH. But it was when Charli didn’t really try that she actually, accidentally, took over the mainstream. BRAT, her moment-making 2024 album, was a homage to the sweaty London clubs of her youth, underpinned by some of her most introspective songwriting yet. Neon-green-clad fans celebrated BRAT Summer everywhere, but Charli didn’t let the season outstay its welcome. Next, she penned the soundtrack for Emerald’s Fennell’s 2026 film Wuthering Heights, starred in her own mockumentary The Moment and declared the dance floor was dead on the tongue-in-cheek single “Rock Music”.