God bless all these musicians before their PR agents get to them and they actually give fun interviews.Great songs, by the way.
― SirGreendown, Sunday, 13 November 2011 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
Whoops, meant to say "God bless all these youngish musicians while they're still giving fun interviews, before their PR agents get to them."
― SirGreendown, Sunday, 13 November 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
kinda confused by seeing people have their minds blown by her. she's ok i guess, need to hear way more though - i like what i've heard but i'm not fully convinced for some reason, seems a touch heavy-handed
― all i see is angels in my eyes (lex pretend), Monday, 14 November 2011 07:59 (twelve years ago) link
Stay Away is definitely one of my favorites this year. Nuclear Seasons, not really.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 17 November 2011 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
Totally into "Nuclear Seasons" and I think I'm gonna go see her tomorrow at her first US show (!)
― Joan Cusack clumsily running into a water fountain (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 8 March 2012 13:32 (twelve years ago) link
i love stay away. and valentine. haven't heard anything else other than nuclear seasons which a lot of people seem to like but i don't really get
― teledyldonix, Friday, 9 March 2012 01:53 (twelve years ago) link
the chorus in this is great http://soundcloud.com/charlixcx/youre-the-one/s-pU6Fs
― owenf, Monday, 11 June 2012 20:51 (twelve years ago) link
Still waiting for something as good as Stay Away. Not even the Icona Pop song is close imo.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 June 2012 20:57 (twelve years ago) link
okay so this "super ultra" mixtape is just ridiculously great
― monotony, Saturday, 10 November 2012 09:57 (eleven years ago) link
It is!
― Tim F, Monday, 19 November 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
cosign! this is probably the closest an album has come to approximating the feel of maxinquaye for me, sounds amazing late at night. rapping over "moments in love" is p much a direct route to my heart. it's a little messy, but the songs are really there. also i didn't realize she was only 20--she'll probably go for leaner production choices in the future.
― een, Monday, 26 November 2012 05:38 (eleven years ago) link
Everything is consistently excellent. Also "Heatwave" is my jam.
― Tim F, Monday, 26 November 2012 08:19 (eleven years ago) link
It's almost as if... Someone made tumblr-pop that justified the adjectives and lurid colourscapes.
― Tim F, Monday, 26 November 2012 08:21 (eleven years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/14932-various-artists-you-ha-ha-ha-lindstrm-remix/
Lindstrøm gives this shit a proper workout.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 14 February 2013 06:23 (eleven years ago) link
i really have no idea what to make of this album, like even whether i'm enjoying it or not
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
i feel like i'm on the brink of being completely YESSSSS THIS IS RESONATING DEEPLY WITH ME but i can't...quite...get...there and it's the kind of thing where if you're NOT on board emotionally it's kind of functionally useless
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 20:54 (eleven years ago) link
"you're the one" is a bit of a monster though
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
albeit i think i might like "you're the one" better if it didn't plunge shamelessly into its cheesy chorus?
the brooke candy verse on this is disappointingly terrible
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 20:57 (eleven years ago) link
have't heard the album but from the singles can attest that if you're on board emotionally they are the best ever
― katherine, Wednesday, 27 March 2013 21:41 (eleven years ago) link
there's a vagueness that keeps me from being emotionally on board "you're the one" but that curving bass
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 21:46 (eleven years ago) link
really love the lingering the verses do on "you (ha ha ha)" too
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 21:49 (eleven years ago) link
Does she have her own "I Love It" on this? I am still curious to hear what she would have done with it instead of Icona Pop.
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 27 March 2013 22:48 (eleven years ago) link
I'm into this newest single "what I like". she has a knack for cadence
― monotony, Sunday, 31 March 2013 01:54 (eleven years ago) link
streaming over @ pitchfork advance
― monotony, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 15:07 (eleven years ago) link
This has very big Alisha's Attic vibes writ large all over it. It's a modern pop album that seems designed for people who grew up in the 90s, which is probably either really cute and endearing, or naff and silly, depending on your taste for talky-sung verses in the style of Siobhan Fahey when in Shakespeare's Sister.
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 22:50 (eleven years ago) link
Charli XCX herself seems very much a pop starlet for the twenty-something crowd, in the way she nonchalantly swears and sings about sexual encounters but it's all framed in this goth-pop cuteness with easy melodies and simple vivid imagery. I can see this album's relationship to 90's r&b being comparable to the way Anniemal took 80's disco and made it sound very pop but very chic, even though this is a lot more obviously dark and menacing.
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 22:58 (eleven years ago) link
aka the awful song with Brooke Candy made me nervous but I even don't mind that in the context of the album and You (Ha Ha Ha) is actually better than I remembered and the rest of it is great. The first three singles are still the best stuff here especially Nuclear Seasons but this is a pretty wonderful pop album.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Thursday, 11 April 2013 03:20 (eleven years ago) link
as extravagant as charli's overload of stylistic reference points is, i don't think it's what's preventing this clicking for me - basically just don't think her songwriting is quite there yet. it's a bit overstuffed but the problem is less that and more her lack of a really distinct songwriting voice
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Thursday, 11 April 2013 10:38 (eleven years ago) link
or just, interesting words, or something
i think i'm the only person in the world that doesn't hate the brooke candy song. the second-to-last one "how can i" would be the dud if i had to pick one
― monotony, Thursday, 11 April 2013 13:03 (eleven years ago) link
You're not alone. Cloud Aura is one of her best. That said, True Romance is a let-down for me largely due to the production. My favorite track is What I Like, but even it has it's problems. Like why start of with a great intro that gets you all hyped up, only to never reference it anywhere else in the song? Still love it, but that's just one example of the many opportunities missed by this album. I expected it to be much more in the vein of Dance 4 U and Velvet Dreaming but the album's first half is like a 90's rehash of what Little Boots was doing with 80's pop.
― Cousin Slappy, Thursday, 11 April 2013 17:45 (eleven years ago) link
I've been cool on her other singles but "What I Like" is marvelous.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 April 2013 17:47 (eleven years ago) link
this is awesome; the two-year-old songs thread in pretty seamlessly
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 April 2013 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
weird but so far i prefer the album tracks to most of the singles (except "what i like" which wow). "like roses" and "take my hand" especially
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 April 2013 19:19 (eleven years ago) link
black roses*
Really, really, really good record.
― monotony, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 01:59 (eleven years ago) link
after seeing her live last week this album is finally seriously beginning to click for me
in a way i'm glad the singles never quite did it in isolation because i get to feel the rush of "YOU'RE JUST ELECTRIC BLUE" now instead
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
CUZ I CAN TASTE YOUR LIPS ON MY LIPSYOUR KISSES TAKE ME OUT OF CONTROLAND I CAN FEEL MY BLOOOOOOOODIT'S CRAWLING THROUGH MY VEEEEEEIIIIIIIINS
somewhere, shirley manson feels proud
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 19:59 (eleven years ago) link
brooke candy's rap on "cloud aura" is so so bad but the rest of it is so good
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
WHY YOU WANNA GO TO SLEEPDON'T GO TO SLEEPDON'T GO TO SLEEPLET'S GO OUUUUUT
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:02 (eleven years ago) link
hmmm i gave this album a couple spins last week but i only actually liked about half of it (mostly the front half, but some later too), the rest just became this amorphous blur of whatever
― dyl, Monday, 22 April 2013 20:03 (eleven years ago) link
it's taken me about a month and about...8 or 9 plays, i guess, to click
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:04 (eleven years ago) link
YOU'RE JUST ELECTRIC BLUUUUUUE is wonderful. all of this is wonderful.
except for brooke candy
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Monday, 22 April 2013 21:02 (eleven years ago) link
Is "cloud aura" the same as on last year's mixtape?
― Tim F, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
yeah no changes as far as i can tell
― monotony, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
"set me free" is ENORMOUS and shoulda been the lead-off single instead of "you"
― monotony, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:43 (eleven years ago) link
I still don't get why "I Love It" didn't get the praise this is getting, I know it's noisy and brash but that's kinda the point?
This keeps getting better on repeated listens, it's not so much that it's a grower as
― boxedjoy, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:50 (eleven years ago) link
something else that I was thinking of how to explain before I hit enter, oops. It's like it's really simple but sticks way more than the disposable pop she clearly adores.
― boxedjoy, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:51 (eleven years ago) link
I love that mixtape so much but "Cloud Aura" wouldn't be the tune I'd carry over from it.
― Tim F, Monday, 22 April 2013 22:51 (eleven years ago) link
i never heard the mixtape - how does it compare to the album tim?
"i love it" is just completely rotten imo
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 07:52 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 June 2024 15:00 (one week ago) link
"So I" so beautiful!
― J. Sam, Saturday, 8 June 2024 00:53 (one week ago) link
it’s Charli baby
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 8 June 2024 03:57 (one week ago) link
maybe this is even better than pop 2
― ufo, Saturday, 8 June 2024 13:40 (one week ago) link
no mildly grating features for one
nothing tops P2, despite the verse on Femmebot
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 8 June 2024 13:49 (one week ago) link
how i'm feeling now is absolutely her best
― ufo, Saturday, 8 June 2024 13:54 (one week ago) link
^yes
― imago, Saturday, 8 June 2024 16:10 (one week ago) link
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
― flopson, Saturday, 8 June 2024 17:52 (one week ago) link
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)
― kitchen person, Saturday, 8 June 2024 19:12 (one week ago) link
Nailed it for me!
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 8 June 2024 19:26 (one week ago) link
my ranking is something like:
how i'm feeling nowbratpop 2
(all the leaked unreleased material from the original version of her third album)
number 1 angelcrashtrue romancecharli
sucker
― ufo, Sunday, 9 June 2024 01:03 (one week ago) link
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.
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 9 June 2024 07:54 (one week ago) link
but overall I’m thrilled brat is so good we’re having these arguments in the first place.
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 9 June 2024 07:55 (one week ago) link
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.
― ufo, Sunday, 9 June 2024 08:23 (one week ago) link
“von dutch” my favorite track on second listen. such a sick beat
― flopson, Sunday, 9 June 2024 15:56 (one week ago) link
It’s time to admit I was relieved to see no appearances by Christine and the Queens
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 9 June 2024 23:27 (one week ago) link
I find them insufferable tbh
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 9 June 2024 23:30 (one week ago) link
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
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Monday, 10 June 2024 01:15 (one week ago) link
the bonus tracks are good but hardly feel like they really needed to be on the album or anything
― ufo, Monday, 10 June 2024 05:28 (one week ago) link
"hello goodbye" is excellent though
― ufo, Monday, 10 June 2024 05:29 (one week ago) link
I think both “hello goodbye” and “guess” are good enough for the album
― Tim F, Monday, 10 June 2024 06:21 (one week ago) link
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
― ufo, Monday, 10 June 2024 07:12 (one week ago) link
Aha nice, that electro-house-revival track with The Dare I posted a video too before is one of these tracks.
― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 10 June 2024 07:53 (one week ago) link
Yeah “Guess” has me flashing on the Ewan remix of “Perspex Sex” a bit
― Tim F, Monday, 10 June 2024 11:23 (one week ago) link
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
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 10 June 2024 12:37 (one week ago) link
chart positioning
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Monday, 10 June 2024 12:48 (one week ago) link
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.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, 10 June 2024 13:09 (one week ago) link
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).
― Tim F, Monday, 10 June 2024 14:09 (one week ago) link
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? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 19:16 (one week ago) link
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
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 17:18 (six days ago) link
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.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 21:19 (six days ago) link
xxp Though i figured i must be wrong, i kept singing "wear Kangols"
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 23:06 (six days ago) link
me too.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 23:15 (six days ago) link
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?)
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 13 June 2024 16:37 (five days ago) link
"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
― ufo, Thursday, 13 June 2024 23:08 (five days ago) link
dying at this post over in the old folks' home
https://i.imgur.com/U6sEUjz.png
― omar little, Friday, 14 June 2024 18:00 (four days ago) link
yikes
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Friday, 14 June 2024 19:32 (four days ago) link
Voom Voom
― really looking forward to wearily scrolling past all your posts (Champiness), Friday, 14 June 2024 19:49 (four days ago) link
yes, famous 'back to basics rock and roll album Sucker by Charli XCX'
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 16 June 2024 00:18 (two days ago) link
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 21:19 (four days ago) link
Let’s reign this kind of shit in a bit, can we ?
― xheugy eddy (D-40), Sunday, 16 June 2024 05:24 (two days ago) link
gee sorry, I’ll try to enthuse in a more measured way
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:33 (two days ago) link
is she really a genius? serious question
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:36 (two days ago) link
Genius ear for a catchy hook and the nous to match that with interesting and at times avant-garde pop producers.
― Chewshabadoo, Sunday, 16 June 2024 14:19 (two days ago) link
I think True Romance was genius and everything afterwards has been various levels of good/OK. Oh, and "Dinosaur Sex" which seems to have disappeared from the internet
― Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Sunday, 16 June 2024 15:58 (two days ago) link
dinosaur sex appears to be floating around slsk, thanks
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 16 June 2024 18:09 (two days ago) link