Charli XCX

both "break the rules" and "london queen" pander way too much to youth imo? like they just ring kinda false to me. i feel sort of embarrassed listening to them.

actually "london queen" is pretty good even if it's sort of a rewrite of "i love it" -- i think my dislike of "break the rules" is infected

the little keyboard hook on "london queen" is pretty nifty

the keyboard hook is great, but there definitely is a playing young thing going on that oddly reverses the mature presence of her earlier singles

both "break the rules" and "london queen" pander way too much to youth imo? like they just ring kinda false to me. i feel sort of embarrassed listening to them.

― snrub goin up on a tuesday (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, October 7, 2014 11:10 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

blame "boom clap"

(plus I feel like most radio, promotion, etc. is now deliberately positioning her as teenpop. which goes to show how arbitrary a lot of this is, but fuck if I know where you'd write something like that anymore in 2014)

i really dislike "break the rules" but i love "london queen," glad there's a good inversion of the former's formula

true romance had such a teenpop appeal to it tho (the better parts imo) so it's not like this feels like some huge betrayal of her former values or aesthetic. i do agree that "break the rules" takes it to a slightly bizarre and uncomfortable extreme but i think she's convincing enough regardless.

see, I don't see true romance as teenpop at all, or if it is it's heavily filtered toward an '80s version of teenpop that no one recognizes as such anymore. (or toward jesus millions blogcore I guess)

love london queen :D

it's not teenpop-teenpop though, you'd never mistake even "break the rules" for idk aly & aj or hilary duff back in the day or whoever, because what actually marks teenpop out is that dead-serious sincerity. it's more knowing teenpop - not ironic, definitely affectionate, but something like "break the rules" mostly feels like dressing-up-as-an-ideal-of-teenpop (cf the carly rae jepsen album). it's to its credit that it still pulls it off though i have to say since that halcyon week of caning the thing repeatedly it hasn't stuck as much as i thought it would.

(this, btw, is why i find pc music and their fans so objectionable because pop DOES the dressing up/commenting on itself/idealising itself thing ALREADY and BETTER and a tru pop head would fucking know that)

pc music?

I dunno, I could see someone like Fefe Dobson or Shut Up Stella releasing it

To me, True Romance is the Shakespeare's Sister/Alisha's Attic axis of pop - gloomy textures with big choruses and universally-understood themes. The production is going to seem so of-its-time in a decade but I think her ability to write a chorus in any style is going to be what lasts.

Every criticism of "Superlove" as her attempt to be loved by everyone seems more valid when applied to "Break The Rules", it feels like it's so beneath what she's capable of. "London Queen" is fun in a goofy way but I'm not sure the power-pop-punk direction is where I wanted to see her go.

Heard a bunch of new songs at her concert and boy there is some clunkers out there, Gold Coins is head scratching bad and it isn't the only one. There is no coming back from I Love It it seems, not for the moment. Kids went absolutely nuts for Break The Rules, also no You're The One and Nuclear Seasons and Set Me Free left me a little bitter if not unsurprised.

oh anyone expecting this to be anything like true romance will be severely disappointed, charli's following the money

It sounds a lot like Republica in places.

I really got on board with Charli via Supa Ultra, which in retrospect now seems like this weird ultra-extreme of blogcoreness. Hard to believe now that she used to write songs with choruses that were just her chanting Justin Bieber's name over and over.

i have a weird kind of respect for the blunt stupidity of "break the rules", given the theme of the song. like, if that's what you feel then that's what you say. what was that line john lennon used? if you've fallen out of a boat you don't say "i'd quite like it if someone came to my aid"

rbh when it comes to bratty pop punk, it still emerges as "nearly there!...but not quite" as her previous tumblrpop

though it feels less likely that she's actually going to get to pulling it off 100%

oh anyone expecting this to be anything like true romance will be severely disappointed, charli's following the money

― lex pretend, Friday, October 10, 2014 5:35 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

i'm on board w/ this personally

the live stuff last night was some bratty pop punk, some 90s no doubt ish ska type stuff. the backing band in matching union jack dresses, the cover of Money (That's What I Want) was pretty on point, and even though the material was probably weaker than most of the first record and i'm not sure if i'll love it recorded the way i adore True Romance her stage presence keeps increasing. she knows how to work a crowd.

I have a feeling I'm not going to like this new Punky Brewster direction. London Queen is easily my least favorite of these new tracks.

Boom Clap is still glorious.

She was fine live tonight. Actually, I really like her, more than I like most of her songs. She really sells this punky pop stuff, even though the moody stuff ultimately suits her better.

p good interview of her http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9542-charli-xcx/

excited for this & think it'll tie w/ tinashe for my favorite pop album of the year. interesting quote re: true romance -

I felt nervous and was definitely worried what people would think about me. I wanted to make a pop record, but I wanted to make it “cool.” Now I couldn’t give a fuck if people don’t think I made a “cool” album.

(i did love true romance but i think i know what she means)

I do too. She was up above it, now she's down in it.

Like, True Romance was really good (I still listen to it frequently), but it kind of seemed like an anthropology project on popular music. tbh, "Break the Rules" and "London Queen" do as well, but "Boom Clap" is a legit '10s pure pop sell out in the finest way.

i love boom clap like i love very few other songs of the past few years. i don't feel compelled to play it, it doesn't slay me, but it somehow sustains me while i'm listening to it, it lends me a type of buoyancy that i don't get from much else.

i listened to it like 6 goddamn times in a row when i stumbled upon it via spotify! i dont turn her stuff on like, completely on the regular but every time i do its usually for extended loops - either the album or one of the new singles

on Break The Rules: "A lot of people think that single is really calculated, because it’s like a record label’s wet dream; I handed it in in June, and they were like, “This is perfect, school starts in September.” But it came so naturally and it’s very tongue-in-cheek."

is it though???? once you add the video into the mix i think that tongue done slid out somewhere along the way

idk i liked that one in particular too much to give a fuck

ha

great interview regardless

Gun Shot by Likke Li has a strong Charli vibe

"Gold Coins"

http://kindofsubtlety.tumblr.com/post/102815360929/via-vk-com-charlixcx

this is really good

i'm into it. i think it's reasonably likely i'll end liking this album better than true romance despite initial appearances.

Immediately loving this more than the last two.

yah the buzzsaw guitars are dope & the hook really sticks

OK, I definitely like this the best of the post-True Romance material. Looking forward to the new record with a little less hesitation now.

it's a bit like sleigh bells with the noise taken out

kind of a 'this is england' groove too

can't get this one out of my head. verges on royals territory lyrically but much more complicit and ambiguous (imo)

my only criticism is that i'd love another verse up front, just hold back that glorious chorus a little bit

it's on spotify! never realised

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/magazine/the-pernicious-rise-of-poptimism.html

;_;

did not watch the AMAs, because barf, but her performance was p good

*the clip of her performance