Charli XCX CRASHes into her acclaimed fifth studio album

By Rodrigo Huguet

“The album’s title track, ‘Crash’ is important to the whole universe of the album. It sets the tone and covers quite a few themes that reoccur in the record: sex, power, and self destruction.” says Charli XCX in a series of story videos for the album’s canvas page on Spotify. The title track embodies a signature and timeless “Janet Jackson influence, combining modern and vintage pop styles.” High voltage and legendary is the perfect way to describe the new album after teasing the release of “New Shapes” in November 2021, and “Good Ones” in September 2021. Both of these songs come after the title track. These new releases were previews of this album, ever since the release of her renowned quarantine musical project “How I’m Feeling Now” released in May 2020. The evolution of Charli’s sound, albums and as an artist over the past 4 years is transcendental and this new album is a testament to her evolutionary futuristic soundwaves.

In the beautiful and emotional recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Charli claims her level of production and sense of self confidence come from “using all of her prior albums as puzzle pieces to what pop can sound like.” Charli XCX’s past and current bodies of work constantly break the barriers of music and sound, always searching for innovation being ahead of the curve, in order to curate CRASH - “the perfect Charli XCX album.” Charli has been developing some of the most interesting songs in the genre for years and her new album is “sexy, fast and dangerous”.

“Constant Repeat” was the last song written on the record. She thought she was finished, but had one more song left to record. The song makes listeners enter Charli’s “fantasy dreamland” about the notion of replaying the memory of someone over and over in your brain on constant repeat. Charli claims this song was the missing “piece of the album” and she did not disappoint when listening to her otherworldly synths and keys. 

Charli claims that “Lightning” is a super important and crucial song for the album. Produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, somebody influential to Charli’s upbringing as an artist ever since she was 17 for the production of her first album, True Romance. 

Charli claims that “Used To Know Me” is a bop (confirmed), and is an ode to the return of her classic style of writing in previous songs such as “Boom Clap” and “Fancy.”

“Twice” is a song about the end of the world and an entirely different subject matter. When writing the song, Charli was inspired by the film Melancholia, thinking about how it would feel if/when the world suddenly ends. Charli dives into these thoughts, asking questions such as who she would think about, what she would miss, what memories to keep, whether or not she lived her life the way she wanted to. This song dives into the inevitable reality of life and mortality, with a perfect beat.

”Yuck” is the perfect song for the introverted romantics. Charli reveals to Genius, “I really struggle with that feeling of being smothered. It’s probably an only-child thing, or something. When you’re like, ‘Get away from me, give me some f****ing space'." The highlight of the song is the addictive chorus.

Charli is a true artist, a queen, a visionary, a business woman, and a pop star. Furthering the rhetoric of pop music, Charli says that “with pop music, the listener can apply the meaning to their own life and experience.” The album is dedicated to SOPHIE, “SOPHIE was a believer in everybody being their own individual”.