- British pop singer Charli XCX has finally released her highly anticipated third album, Charli. Here, Charli has recruited a long list of producers including PC Music’s AG Cook, as well as Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs. The end result of this recording endeavour, which includes fourteen different features, is an interesting blend of both the commercial and experimental styles that Charli has previously adopted. For the most part Charli is a fun and futuristic pop record, at its best when it embraces electronic chaos.
Album opener Next Level Charli embraces the listener in a vivid description of a party. Right from the start the lyrics signify a futuristic outlook, “turn the volume up in your Prius / burn rubber no crash”. The production here is relatively simple, blending Charli’s auto-tuned vocals into the production to end with a euphoric climax
The album accelerates to an early peak at track five, Click. Here Charli and Cook embrace the most experimental production of the whole LP. Grime influenced undertones are paired with aggressive PC production. Where PC Music normally is a light bubblegum sound, here it strikes out into something darker. Click features a sultry, well placed Kim Petras feature, before Tommy Cash's belligerent rap brings a fury I’ve only recently seen in JPEGMAFIA. The number ends with nearly thirty seconds of white noise, unifying the chaos that everything has been building towards. It’s a career highlight for Charli XCX.
There's another standout in the back end with Shake It, which sees Charli MC, -for want of better words- though features by Big Freedia, CupcakKe, Brooke Candy and Pabllo Vittar dominate. It's an interesting way to approach the dynamic of collaboration, allowing these special guests to control the track. Yet this unexpected moment works well, a breath of fresh air for the listener. Other highlights such as 2099 and Gone blend a lighter dose of PC production with emotive lyrics and are some of the album’s least formulaic and best tracks.
It’s when Charli leans back towards the style of her 2014 album Sucker, however, that parts of this Charli actually Suck. First single Blame It On Your Love, is a commercially accessible deconstruction of Pop 2’s Track 10, another Cook produced experiment flex. Unforunately Blame It On Your Love is one of the most generic tracks of Charli's career, featuring the blandest drop and a very out of place -if fun- feature from Lizzo. Warm, which features HAIM, is another strange one. Cook's production is minimalisitic, but the features are not commanding enough to stand out against it. That’s not to say that all of the accessible always equals bad on this record. 1999, which features Troye Sivan, is a fun and euphoric anthem. It's self- aware, filled with '90’s references and not at all disposable.
This album puts some distance between Charli XCX and the pop perils of her past. It's exciting and unifying and at its best when the record embraces its experimental undertones. It's worth noting when Charli breaks the mould, towards the middle of the record, braving a string of tracks without features. Thoughts and I Don’t Wanna Know are immersive, moody electronic ballads, while Silver Cross, the best of the solo tracks, is more upbeat and anthemic, employing a more energetic production style. In a feature heavy album, some of the highlights arrive when Charli, alone, commands her stage. In these moments she proves herself to be a futuristic pop auteur, completely independent of all the so-called 'help'. It's only appropriate for a record called Charli.
- Sean Tayler.