2 notes! First, this was cowritten with my brilliant friend and classics connoisseur Aidan Gregg. Check him out here for the time being. Second, excerpts of this will appear in an upcoming issue of another publication, one which I won’t be disclosing for privacy reasons! Just giving credit where credit is due, which is the joint slay between myself and Aidan this week. Ok, disclaimers over: let’s ride.
Last week, Charli XCX released her transparent foray into mainstream pop music. And everybody moved. “CRASH” is a brassy, punchy 12-track victory lap of an album surrounding the integral theme of a car crash that represents self destructive ambition, self referential passion and the kind of astronomic attention that a pop superstar demands. Whether Charli is truly the self-proclaimed legend and pop performer that the album requires is the question of the hour as she sheds her roots in experimental electronic music in favor of 80s inspired gloss-pop, and does so while the world watches.
Charli’s experience as a writer and producer provides the resume necessary for a successful pop record, and for months she flaunted the rightfully earned braggadocio of an established veteran of the industry to match. The extensively public rollout comprised of embarrassingly earnest social media interaction on Charli’s behalf and the type of discourse among longtime fans and observers that bad singles and too much time to wait for the rest often elicits. From tweets about “the concept of selling out” to cryptic Instagram posts about the pressures of the music industry, Charli toyed with caricatures of pop legends past while memorializing herself alongside them. Whether she did so successfully…we’ll have to ask the audience.
In recent years Charli has established a relatively intimate bond with her fanbase, involving them in the production of her previous album “how i’m feeling now”. Such a distinct departure from Charli’s past credits drew criticism and considerable amounts of doubt from the general public as well as loyalist Angels primarily prompted by the singles that preceded the record. “Good Ones” and “Beg For You” were juggernaut pop pieces about paramours complemented by dramatic story-led music videos. “New Shapes” and “Every Rule” slowed the tempo with retro influences and lyrics about ill-fated relationships; the surplus of content combined with the number of singles and varying sonic signatures was enough to set a confusingly inconsistent precedent for a new era within “CRASH”.
The general consensus surrounding the album is that it knowingly aspires to reach the pop perfection of artists such as Janet Jackson and Dua Lipa, but falls short due to the dead weight of a bloated tracklist. The story that “CRASH” tells is one of a supernova explosion, one that matches Charli’s level of confidence in her past and present work — see the near messianic reflections upon her life and successes within “Twice”: “When I let go/let my body ascend”. The standout tracks on the record meet these expectations while others fade into the noise of the current pop landscape. Charli does succeed in merging her production style and expert pen to craft tight tracks with a clear theme, falling in step with her pop contemporaries. The 80s synth that builds an atmosphere around many tracks is not amiss in popular current releases such as “Dawn FM” by The Weeknd, and the thumping bass of 70s inspired disco-pop a la “Say So” by Doja Cat is present on some of the brighter tracks. This record buries its lede of classic Charli signatures within its production, but neglects to recognize where its strengths and weaknesses lie.
The highlights of the album effectively blend the electropop elements of Charli’s previous projects with the facets of mainstream pop music. Tracks such as “Good Ones,” “Yuck,” and “Move Me” maintain the synth-saturated sounds and vocal distortions that have made Charli’s past work stand out while integrating the ‘80s pop influences that distinguish this album from her prior projects.
“Lightning,” track 9 of 12, is Charli XCX at her best. The song is immersed in the influences of icons like SOPHIE and A.G. Cook, demonstrating that Charli possesses the expertise to merge creations that are sonically unique with the resurgence of ‘80s pop influences in contemporary music.
In contrast to successes like “Lightning,” songs such as “Crash,” “Constant Repeat” and “Twice” fell short of the album’s ambitions and landed in the midst of perennial pop songs that never quite cracked the surface of the mainstream. “Beg For You,” featuring contemporary pop rock newcomer Rina Sawayama, was one such highly anticipated track. Charli’s past collaborations with artists such as cupcakKe, Troye Sivan, and Lizzo have allowed each artist to shine in their respective verses, whereas Charli’s performance on “Beg For You” leaves much to be desired in contrast to that of Sawayama.
Unfortunately the album sinks deeper into the bowels of mediocrity with a series of sonic missteps that either lack a final element to seal the song’s fate as pop perfection, or overcompensate in the realms of production. “New Shapes” and “Used to Know Me” unfortunately fall into the same pitfalls as “Every Rule” and “Baby”; where the best songs on this album immaculately blend the best parts of Charli’s past projects with mainstream pop, these tracks are a swing and a miss.
Though this new direction proved successful for Charli in that she has achieved pretty widespread critical recognition for her pop prowess, it invites further debate about the costs of forming a polarizing new persona to promote it. In alienating past fans and attracting new ones under hesitantly temporary premises, Charli has taken risks for the sake of “CRASH”; what remains to be seen is if the debris was worth the wreck. I love y’all, and I’ll see you next week (where I will still be streaming Yuck)!