Charli XCX

wealth does terrible things to people and for all their talk of how they're so 'grounded' they and especially 0PN come off as a couple of rich dorks absolutely loving themselves

yeah i get what you mean, especially about 0PN. charli does seem to be managing her level of fame pretty well & for a rich celebrity that's what counts as 'grounded' lol.

i am hoping the album will be more exciting than the singles so far (based on the teaser clips) but i'm not expecting it to be great or anything. what it seems to come down to is that her instincts are much stronger for the more out there production & she's unfortunately not actually very good at playing by or compromising with the major label pop rules when she tries to.

we will always, always have 'how i'm feeling now'

so we're getting another "Charli" and then we'll get another wacky one!

i've been caning "gone" lately. chris is next-level on that track.

Good Ones has grown on me a lot over since being on the fence to begin with. My only problem with it is the same as a lot of music at the moment, which is that it's too short. At least put out an extended mix.

Lopatin agrees, noting that what is subversive changes in step with the musical landscape and one’s own artistic canon. “Experimental isn’t a sound or difficulty level attributed to comprehending some piece of art,” he says. “It’s an attitude of bravery in the face of market-generating clichés from captured old braveries.”

That interview was really cringey and self-congratulatory (without even getting into the vitamin shots).

You’re not supposed to say you see being a pop star as an “art piece,” IMO… that’s something you (hope) supportive critics say about you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OhqYJyZcvM

still a little slight but more compelling than the other two

as someone who loves both UK garage and "Cry For You" I have to say this is a bit underwhelming

in a way it's nice this isn't another 80s synthpop pastiche. we've advanced a whole decade!

it is still not what i want from charli xcx and i suspect i'm not alone here

yeah it's not what i want either & nor is it great on its own merits but i like it more than the other two

well yeah, it's a more interesting thing to pastiche lol

The chorus sounds like like another song, I can't place it...

september - "cry for you", it's a direct sample

thx, i see (I've only heard that song in retail stores or whatever, didn't know artist or title)

that's basically the heart of the track, so...

https://www.twitter.com/gothjafar/status/1488309758545346560

That didn't embed properly

you already have a platform just make the fucking music? am i crazy https://t.co/Gz97QZxsVQ

— ༺𝒢𐀔𝒥༻ (@gothjafar) February 1, 2022

Charli acting like a bit of a diva here tbh, and not in a yasss way

well she did go thru a pile of shit over the album she scrapped, supposedly too avant. and then Pop 2 was her all time greatest for me. But HIFN was pleasingly out there, so … ?

HIFN is her defining statement so far imo

is she just trying to become as big as possible on this last atlantic deal record to strengthen her hand in any new contract negotiation?

which i kind of get but im not sure making boring music is a great strategy to becoming a superstar

Plenty of basics think her new singles are bangers tbf

AND WHO ARE WE TO ARGUE

Her reasoning in that tweet is nonsense though. If you wanna be a main pop girl just be one and don't try to justify it

All the singles sound pretty slight. When she said this was going to be a big pop album to satisfy her label, I (as a basic) was hoping that we'd be getting a return to the era of Boom Clap, I Love It, etc. But everything so far has been kinda sad and boring.

I assumed this album was going to be similar to the Charli era where she had obvious attempts at hits (1999, Blame It On Your Love and Gone) but then kept the weirder or more avant garde music (as Charli puts it) for the album. I ended up really loving Good Ones, but these two last singles have been her weakest in a long time. New Shapes is so flat and underwhelming considering the talent involved. I'm still looking forward to the album as she hasn't really missed yet (sorry Charli, Sucker is great) but compared to the last few albums, my enthusiasm isn't on the same level.

charli's "please help me game the system" schtick is a bit offputting, especially hand in hand with the shift into tawny kitaen fashion as a fairly obvious stab at attention getting

is she confused.... or iconic?

I know Charli isn’t in the boards good books right now, but I’ve quite enjoyed a lot about the recent singles, Baby in particular was one I knew I would like from the dlips posted months ago and almost lived up to my very high expectations. I’m a huge fan of stuff influenced by 80s pop so the stuff mining that period hits a sweet spot for me.

I saw the album has leaked now and it all hangs together well as a collection to me although maybe there’s a drop off towards the end. Of the new tracks Constant Repeat is maybe the most immediate new one on there and sounds like a potential future single. Lightning has a turbo-freestyle feel to it which I enjoyed. There’s maybe some overconfidence in stealing a lot from the Stonebridge remix of Robin S - Show Me Love on Used to Know Me which I don’t think quite pulls it off. Twice is a pleasant enough album closer, but I could do with something a little more daring at the end,

Overall, it’s a polished album and I’ll enjoy listening to it this year, but I’ll be hoping for more next time around.

I don’t care for the singles but I have tickets to the London gig and know it’s gonna be a fun time even if I don’t care for the new stuff. She’s always been hit & miss.

I’m going to start backtracking, this album is worming itself deeper into my brain the more I listen to it.

it's better than i expected from the lead-up, it's solid enough but still not really exciting or anything. at the very least "lightning" and the title track are quite cool

p4k claiming it's better than how i'm feeling now is totally ridiculous though lol

but there's still the feeling of it being a bit slight overall and she should be largely capable of better, even if she wanted to make something more conventional. she very rarely gives the ideas room to breathe even when they're good ones - that's why "lightning" is the best track

I’m a big fan of the classic ~30 minute pop album length and this nails that. I just wish the extended 12" mix of pop tracks would come back.

word

i think that’s one reason i like “rock Charli” - the songs feel loosey-goosey

I wanted to play Baby on my radio show but needed to take the fucks out, so I did do a quick and dirty re-edit and ended up extending it a bit. It’s starts around the 1 hour 33 minute mark if anyone is interested: https://soundcloud.com/1btn/inter-mission-11032022 (warning I had a couple too many beers before the show and you can tell). I would like to try and get into the habit of making some 80s style extended mixes of current pop tracks.

need to confirm you introduced it with "it's Charli, Baby"?

Lot going on here for a short album. Nice.

xp when you made that joke I was immediately reminded of how forlorn and emotional Pop 2 is, what a record. “Track 10” feels like the last message from a doomed human race if I play it late at night. It’s woven into such a specific time with my daughters, will always be my favourite.

Maffew12 I definitely missed a trick there.

Definitely more enjoyable in the album sequence than as a bunch of pre-release singles.

Favorites are Constant Repeat and the juxtaposition of Every Rule and Yuck.

Oh besides the new Rosalia, I also surprisingly like this one more than I anticipated.

Wait, why am I suddenly agreeing with p4k scores? I need to take a step back.

This album is in isolation fine. Its major flaw is HIFN's existence

It is perhaps SLIGHTLY better than I feared it'd be

it's obviously not anywhere near as good as pop 2 or how i'm feeling now but it is better than charli which i wasn't really expecting

I really like this. The singles I didn't rate before sound great to me now. As you say, ufo it's maybe not on the same level as her very best but I still like it a lot. All of her albums/mixtapes are good to great.