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
I haven't heard the album so I can't compare - but the mixtape is shimmering cloud-R&B which by that description should be awful but actually is excellent - "Cloud Aura" is pretty indicative of the overall sound but there's some more discoid and/or balladic stuff on there and there's no other raps.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 07:58 (eleven years ago) link
There are some songs down the end of Super Ultra that could have slotted in fine, on here but for the most part the album is much stronger, which of course it was always going to be given that it has all those pre-release singles on it.
I'm a big fan of "I Love It" (which has had plenty of praise, btw - perhaps not on ILX but certainly elsewhere), but it's not something that would gel with the rest of this record at all; too daphne & celeste / bananarama. it's pummelling, brash, throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air-sometimes sort of stuff; none of the songs on true romance even remotely approach that kind of aggression.
― monotony, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 12:11 (eleven years ago) link
and yes there is a stray comma in that first sentence, oops
― monotony, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 12:12 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, "I Love It" would sound totally out of place on this but I think it's strange that there's so much dislike for it on its own.
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 18:27 (eleven years ago) link
"i love it" did really well on the ilm poll despite not being overwhelmingly praised here (and met with boos and hisses during the results rollout)
― dyl, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:58 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i'd be interested to learn what is quite so rotten about "i love it" - as was mentioned upthread, obviously it's loud and obnoxious - but that's the whole purpose of the track, to convey that feeling of just not giving a fuck
― monotony, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:06 (eleven years ago) link
I don't _love_ it as much anymore, but I like it in the same way I like Shampoo. And it's not like Icona Pop didn't sound more or less like this for years, so it's not like they "sold out" or whatever accusation you want to level.
― katherine, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:07 (eleven years ago) link
at any rate this album is amazing. and yes, "Set Me Free" is massive but it doesn't seem to be the direction Charli XCX wants to go with her singles. alas.
― katherine, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
(incidentally, the "Set Me Free" producer's best known for working with _Meds_-era Placebo, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nicola Roberts and Sohodolls, which is as good a triangulation [uh, with "tri-" replaced with "quad-" as necessary] of this album as you'll find anywhere.)
― katherine, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:58 (eleven years ago) link
"i love it" feels clumsy and contrived and, crucially, totally unfun to me. i like don't-give-a-fuck music but it just repels me.
(katherine - picking up something i half-saw on twitter last night if i may, which is prob relevant here - your dislike of "tumblr" as a signifier. i'd say tumblr - regardless of the pockets of tumblr where this isn't the case - signifies decontextualisation above all to me, whether that's endless images/quotes plucked from the ether or the social justice kids or whatever...)
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 April 2013 07:48 (eleven years ago) link
oh, and GREAT review btw
http://www.mtvhive.com/2013/04/23/charli-xcx-true-romance/
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 April 2013 07:50 (eleven years ago) link
haha, that was actually prompted by reading a bunch of metacritic reviews of this very album. the thing is... tumblr is a huge site, with a huge and varied userbase; it's like how people say designs "look like Geocities," as if a site with millions of uses could be somehow aesthetically consistent in a way that isn't "this is how entry-level HTML from cookbooks in 1999 is probably gonna look."
my beef I think is that a lot of time it gets invoked as a kind of shorthand to sneak in pejoratives. like, if someone is trying to say that "this charli xcx album sounds like a thing teenage girls would love," then they should just say it -- and then think about why this is such an important thing to mention. or "this charli xcx album sounds trendy" -- how? why is that bad? etc.
(also, thanks!)
― katherine, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 21:25 (eleven years ago) link
Ugh not feeling this at all, there's an underlying clumsiness to almost everything here and she's just not an enjoyable or engaging on-record presence. Awful voice too.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 25 April 2013 11:02 (eleven years ago) link
Agreed, and I even like some of her mixtape material. I just can't with this unfinished-sounding album.
― Cousin Slappy, Thursday, 25 April 2013 15:31 (eleven years ago) link
i wouldn't be shocked if obama's done some coke in his day
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 20:52 (one month ago) link
I'd like to think it was O's intern fucking with him.
― There’s a Monster in my Vance (President Keyes), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 20:57 (one month ago) link
xp
pretty sure he talked about doing coke in his memoir
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 21:03 (one month ago) link
Yes i would have assumed so. this has still just got to be someone fucking with him.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 21:12 (one month ago) link
He specifically mentioned it in his books.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 21:20 (one month ago) link
"Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it."
― Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:00 (one month ago) link
She could do a remix with that line from his audiobook recording.
― Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:02 (one month ago) link
i meant i wouldn't be shocked if he did blow after the presidency but can't imagine caring enough to check.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:14 (one month ago) link
do interns fuck with ex presidents they're working for? i guess if theyre doing a lot of coke...
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:17 (one month ago) link
How would it affect his legacy if he died of a coke heart attack?
― There’s a Monster in my Vance (President Keyes), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:18 (one month ago) link
anyway i only recently realized that "spring breakers" has some good lines in it.
after listening to brat all summer i've kinda cooled on it.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:20 (one month ago) link
grateful to contemplate obama and his legacy on the charli xcx thread
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:22 (one month ago) link
highly sorrymaybe just a fuckup anyway. 360,365, whatever, just put Charli down, everyone needs to know I'm having a brat summer!!!
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:35 (one month ago) link
haha yeah hopefully
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:43 (one month ago) link
365 president bombin that
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 13 August 2024 23:44 (one month ago) link
Brat Hussein Obama
― There’s a Monster in my Vance (President Keyes), Wednesday, 14 August 2024 01:28 (one month ago) link
I felt better after finding out a friend also initially misheard "work angles" in 360 as "wear kangols"
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Wednesday, 14 August 2024 16:33 (one month ago) link
yeah my wife and i did too!
― sean gramophone, Wednesday, 14 August 2024 16:36 (one month ago) link
Me too!
https://www.villagehatshop.com/photos/product-alternate/giant/4511390S492580/alt/492580.jpg
― peace, man, Wednesday, 14 August 2024 17:22 (one month ago) link
Enjoying this
Eberhard Weber IS brat🟩these were already in the same key lmao pic.twitter.com/im1JToQfh9— jetski 3 (@jetskitosway2) August 13, 2024
― Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 15 August 2024 20:04 (one month ago) link
Late to the party but the daft punk rip on Guess is pretty great
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 20 August 2024 11:54 (one month ago) link
lol that mashup works so much better than it has any right to
― ufo, Tuesday, 20 August 2024 13:07 (one month ago) link
Even later to the party, just had to look it up. Technologic?
― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 21 August 2024 08:25 (one month ago) link
Yep
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 21 August 2024 09:17 (one month ago) link
i think the apple’s bottom right to the core from all the jeans passed down from all the apples boots with the fur— ali (@alirichthem) September 14, 2024
― flopson, Monday, 16 September 2024 03:37 (two weeks ago) link
I don’t understand this tweet
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 16 September 2024 03:56 (two weeks ago) link
flo rida joke
― dyl, Monday, 16 September 2024 05:04 (two weeks ago) link
Nice!
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 17 September 2024 17:18 (one week ago) link
The sweat tour with Troye is INSANE. Do not miss it, the Montréal show was a madhouse. To borrow wrestling parlance, it had some of the biggest crowd pops I've ever heard.
― A. Begrand, Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:23 (one week ago) link
It's interesting, in the early weeks after that tour went on sale I remember reading about it as having sluggish sales, being another example of struggling tours, etc. But then I guess brat caught fire and Charli became the kind of headliner who could carry it.
― Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:41 (one week ago) link
re: troye, i know "rush" was popular but somehow i missed him becoming pretty big in flyover country.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:49 (one week ago) link
i clicked on the ticket link for the show in denver thinking "maybe if there's something under $80" but there wasn't and then i thought "charli xcx and troye sivan in denver? the most annoying crowd on the planet" and then realized that i'm doing that thing where "most annoying" also means "most fuckable"... anyway i'd rather play "the girl, so confusing" as an "encore" at the end of my dj set at the local gay bar because everyone is chanting for more and then watch these cute 20 somethings jump up and down and scream every word at each other, like at least i have a good view of it.
― he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:58 (one week ago) link
dragged my feet on getting tickets to this and now the only ones left are $$$
― flopson, Tuesday, 17 September 2024 20:26 (one week ago) link