Charli XCX

Charli in 2021.

**Charlotte Emma Aitchison**, better known by her stage name **Charli XCX**, is a British singer and songwriter. Her debut single was released in 2008 independently and she first appeared at warehouse raves in London. She signed with Asylum Records in 2010.

## Early Life

Charlotte Emma Aitchison was born on 2 August 1992, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, to a Scottish father, Jon Aitchison, and a Gujarati Indian mother, Shameera, who is originally from Uganda. Her father is an entrepreneur and former show-booker and her mother is a former nurse and flight attendant. Aitchison grew up in Start Hill, near Bishop's Stortford, and attended Bishop's Stortford College, though she left the school in 2010. She also studied at UCL's Slade School of Fine Art in London but left during the second year of her degree course.

## Career

### 2006–11: Early performances and recordings

   Aitchison started writing songs when she was 14 years old and began recording an album on a loan granted by her parents. In early 2008, she began posting songs from the album, as well as numerous other demos, on her official MySpace page. This caught the attention of Chaz John Ross, frontman of band The Coolness and promoter of ‘Club Cool’ warehouse raves and parties in east London, who invited her to perform and appear in their music video ‘Kids on K’. Aitchison was billed on flyers under the stage name Charli XCX, her MSN Messenger display name when she was younger. Despite the illicit nature of the gigs, her parents were supportive of her career and attended several raves with her. She released two singles, "!Franchesckaar!" and double A-side "Emelline"/"Art Bitch", in late 2008 under Orgy Music. The album she recorded at this time, 14 (which features the former single), was never commercially released, although several promotional copies were issued and copies were given away at her earliest gigs. After being signed to Asylum Records in 2010, she took a break from music in what she describes as a "lost" period.

Early in 2011, Alex Metric released the single "End of the World" which featured her vocals. When the song appeared on BBC's Radio One, her age, success, and relative obscurity were regularly marveled. In May 2011, she released the single "Stay Away", followed by "Nuclear Seasons" in November. Both tracks were produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and released exclusively in the United Kingdom. The singles gained attention from the music website Pitchfork, where she earned "Best New Track" accolades for both; the former was eventually named to the site's Best Tracks of 2011 list. In May 2012, XCX released her first mixtape, *Heartbreaks and Earthquakes*, a one-track file consisting of eight songs. She supported Santigold and Coldplay on tour during that year. Her second original mixtape, *Super Ultra*, was released exclusively through her website in November 2012.

### 2011–13: Breakthrough and *True Romance*

   XCX co-wrote and contributed vocals to the 2012 single "I Love It", which was recorded by Swedish pop duo Icona Pop and became a breakthrough hit for both acts in 2013 after her newfound relationship with Joey Tuzak. The song entered the US Billboard Hot 100 chart after its appearance in an early 2013 episode of the television show Girls, eventually climbing to number seven on the chart. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. XCX's own single "You're the One" was released in mid-2012 and was named among the 20 Best Songs of 2012 by Billboard. The succeeding single, "You (Ha Ha Ha)", was listed in Spin magazine and in Consequence of Sound as one of the best songs of 2013.

XCX's debut studio album, True Romance, was released in April 2013, following the single, "What I Like". This is what she said of the album: "Every corner of my own romantic history is explored on this record, so for me, it's very raw, it's very honest, and it's very true." It peaked at number 85 on the UK Albums Chart, at number five on the US Billboard Top Heatseekers, and at number 11 on the Australian Hitseekers Albums Chart. True Romance was received well by music critics, earning a 76/100 on Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

### **2013–15: International success and *Sucker***

   XCX began work on her second album in mid-2013. Later that year she released the single "SuperLove", which became her first solo chart entry on the UK Singles Chart, at number 62.

In early 2014, she was featured on Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's single "Fancy"; the track topped the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming both artists' first number-one single on the chart. XCX expanded her portfolio of songwriting for other artists during this period, with credits on Azalea's 2014 single "Beg for It", Ryn Weaver's debut single "OctaHate", and material for acts including Sky Ferreira, Neon Jungle, Rihanna, and Gwen Stefani. In mid-2014, XCX contributed the song "Boom Clap" to the soundtrack of the film The Fault in Our Stars. "Boom Clap" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number six in the UK, and was certified platinum in Australia. "Boom Clap" was included on XCX's second album, Sucker, which was released in December 2014 in North America and February 2015 in Europe.

The subsequent single, "Break the Rules", charted within the top 10 in Australia and Germany, and "Doing It" (featuring fellow British singer Rita Ora) peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. XCX opened for Katy Perry on the European leg of her Prismatic World Tour in early 2015, headlined her own UK tour, and featured alongside R&B artist Tinashe on rapper Ty Dolla Sign's single "Drop That Kitty".In May 2015, XCX released "Famous" as the fourth single taken from Sucker; months later, Time ranked "Famous" the 5th best pop music video of the year. In July and August 2015, XCX co-headlined a US tour with Jack Antonoff. She announced on 21 August that, for "personal reasons", a planned second leg of the tour would not go ahead.

### 2015–2018: *Vroom Vroom* EP, *Number 1 Angel* and Pop 2

    In a July 2015 interview, XCX said that she was working on her third album and described it as "the most pop thing, and the most electronic thing" she had ever done. British producer Sophie was confirmed to be involved in the album's production, along with other producers, BloodPop and Stargate. In February 2016, XCX released an extended play titled Vroom Vroom in collaboration with Sophie as a teaser for her third studio album. XCX also hosted her own radio show on Beats 1 that premiered fortnightly. She wrote the songs "Gravity" and "Tonight", which appeared on Blondie's Pollinator album (released in 2017).

On 28 October 2016, "After the Afterparty" was released as the lead single from her third album but the song didn't make the final cut. On 10 March 2017, XCX released a mixtape, Number 1 Angel, which featured a line-up of all-female guest appearances from MØ, Raye, Starrah, Uffie, Abra, and Cupcakke. The mixtape was largely a collaboration with producer A. G. Cook. On 17 March 2017, Mura Masa released his single "1 Night", which featured vocals from XCX.

On 26 July 2017, XCX scrapped After The Afterparty as the lead single and released "Boys" as the official lead single from her upcoming album, along with a self-directed music video featuring an ensemble cast of male celebrities, including Joe Jonas and Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco among others; it peaked at number 2 on the Top 25 YouTube list on 27 July, receiving almost two million views in under 24 hours. On 6 August, XCX performed at Lollapalooza music festival 2017. The album was supposed to be released in September of 2017, however, on 20 August 2017, most of the album leaked, along with the album artwork shot by Bradley&Pablo. The album never had an official name, however the name of XCX World was used to refer to it by fans. Due to leaks and Charli's Label issues, the album was entirely scrapped, and Charli began working on a new album, which would then become her self titled third album Charli.

The *Number 1 Angel* follow-up mixtape, *Pop 2*, was released on 15 December 2017, featuring collaborations with Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, ALMA, Caroline Polachek, Brooke Candy, Cupcakke, Pabllo Vittar, Dorian Electra, Mykki Blanco, Tommy Cash, Kim Petras, Jay Park and MØ On 15 March 2018, Charli XCX performed to promote her album *Pop 2* at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.

From May 2018, Charli XCX started performing on Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour as an opening act alongside Camila Cabello. Since then, she released several singles. On 31 May, she released "5 in the Morning," which was debuted on the first date of Swift's tour. On 29 June, she released the singles "Focus" and "No Angel". On 27 July, she released the single "Girls Night Out," which had previously been performed live and leaked in 2017.

### 2018–2020: *Charli* and *How I'm Feeling Now* Era

    On 5 October, she released the single "1999" as the new official lead Single for the album with South African-Australian artist Troye Sivan. The single reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and became Charli XCX's tenth Top 40 single and also her first Top 15 single since 2015. The music video for “1999” was released on 11 October which starred Charli XCX and Sivan and featured various references to 1990’s pop culture including *Titanic*, Spice Girls, Rose McGowan, *The Sims*, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, *The Matrix*, Steve Jobs, Eminem, *American Beauty*, and Backstreet Boys. Charli XCX was featured on MØ‘s album *Forever Neverland* which was released on 19 October with the song “If It’s Over”. During the success of 1999, Charli was very motivated to make a new album for 2019. In May 2019, she released "Blame It On Your Love" ( The original version of "Track 10" from Pop 2) with Lizzo as the album's second single. During the Summer, Charli released the album's third single "Gone" with Christine and the Queens and appeared on few collaborations, including Brooke Candy and Malibu Miitch for "XXXTC" , BTS for "Dream Glow" and Pabllo Vittar for "Flash Pose". After that she kept releasing singles every 14 days, she released "Cross You Out" with Sky Ferreira, then "Warm" with the HAIM sisters, then "February 2017" with Clairo and Yaeji and at the end "2099" with Troye Sivan. In June, she announced her third studio album titled "Charli" which was released in September of that year, it included 15 songs featuring 14 artists.

During the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, Charli XCX announced a new album titled How I'm Feeling Now. Scheduled for release on 15 May 2020, the album is a "do-it-yourself" collaborative process with Charli XCX involving her fans in the recording process. The album has been preceded by singles "Forever", "Claws" and "I Finally Understand".

### 2020-Present: *CRASH* Era and end with Atlantic Records

The recording of Charli's 5th studio album began in early 2020, with the intention to be an album entirely inspired by Janet Jackson, although it was later interrupted by COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore the quick creation process of *How I'm Feeling Now* began.  The recording process was retaken on late 2020, and during 2021 the album was teased to be an "evil era" for various months.  The first single for the album, Good Ones, was announced on August 2nd, 2021, Charli's 29th birthday, which was later released on September 2nd. After more information about the album was known on October 2021, the second single New Shapes was released on November 4th, 2021. Her fifth album CRASH was announced at the same day. It was Charli last album under Atlantic Records and it released on March 18th, 2022. The album was also preceded by singles Beg For You featuring Rina Sawayama on January 27th 2022, and Baby on March 1st 2022, as well as promotional singles Every Rule, released on March 14 and the last single Used to Know Me was released on April 15, 2022 respectively.

## Style and influences

Music critics have noted XCX's music as mainly experimental pop (which she also self-described it as) and as electropop. Her early recordings were described as a blend of darkwave and witch house. As her career progressed, she showcased several other musical styles such as gothic pop and synthpop in her debut album. ; her second album was described as pop-punk containing elements of punk rock, new wave, and power pop. Her latest projects explored an Avant pop direction, Vroom Vroom contained bubblegum pop, bass, and Eurodance elements, meanwhile, Number 1 Angel contained bedroom pop, trap, alternative R&B, electropop, and synthpop. In addition to this, other critics have found alternative pop and dance-pop elements in her overall sound.

XCX's influences include No Doubt, t.A.T.u., The Donnas, David Bowie, Martika, The Cure, Siouxsie, and the Banshees, Donna Summer, Marilyn Manson, Bread, Lil Wayne, Kate Bush, Twin Peaks, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Björk and Siouxsie Sioux. She cited The Hives, Weezer, Ramones, and 1960s yé-yé music as some influences for her second album.

XCX experiences sound-to-color synaesthesia. She states, "I see music in colours. I love music that's black, pink, purple or red—but I hate music that's green, yellow or brown." She considers herself a feminist and wrote her song "Body of My Own" as a "feminist statement." XCX also directed a documentary about gender equality, titled The F Word And Me, which premiered on BBC Three.

## Discography

### Albums**:**

* *14* (2008)
* *True Romance* (2013)
* *Sucker* (2014)
* *Charli* (2019)
* *How I'm Feeling Now* (2020)
* *Crash* (2022)

### Mixtapes**:**

* *Heartbreaks and Earthquakes* (2012)
* *Super Ultra* (2012)
* *Number 1 Angel* (2017)
* *Pop 2* (2017)

## Tours

* Girl Power North America Tour (2014)
* Sucker World Tour (2015)
* Charli and Jack Do America Tour (2015)
* Number 1 Angel Tour (2017)
* Pop 2 Shows Tour (2018)
* Charli LIVE Tour (2019)
* How I'm Feeling Now Tour (2020)
* CRASH The Live Tour (2022)

## Filmography

### Film

 2015
 2016
 2019

### Television

 2014
 2015
 2017
 2018

## Trivia

* The "XCX" in her stage name, stands for "Kiss Charli Kiss", and it was her MSN Messenger in the 2000s.
* Charli experiences sound-to-color synaesthesia. She sees music in colors, she likes music that's black, pink, purple and red. But hates music that's green, yellow or brown.
* Charli is mixed. Her father is Scottish, and her mother is Indian.
* She considers herself a feminist.
* She prefers smaller raves rather than big concerts or festivals.
* Her favorite album ever has always been Blackout by Britney Spears.
* When she was 14, her parents used to take her to raves in order to perform.
* During the mid-2010s, people used to confuse her with Lorde. On SXSW 2014, someone ran to her confusing Charli with her.
* She dropped out of art school when she was a teenager.
* She has said she doesn't like her song Break the Rules. She said that when she finished writing it, she thought to herself "Who would sing something like this?".
* Even though it was originally a meme, Charli actually tried to add poppers to her merchandise in 2019, but because of sanitary issues, they couldn't be sold.
* Her zodiac sign is Leo.
* Charli's Myers-Briggs personality type is ESFP.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/FckyeahCharli/status/1213268673961644034
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/charli\_xcx/status/1414980662445047816