Can you tell us a lesser-known fact about her?
Despite her reputation as a rave girl, one of her very first music shows she attended was by My Chemical Romance.
Which artists got Charli into music?
Britney is obviously the blueprint for so many new-generation pop stars. When Charli was starting out, she frequently mentioned Britney as her inspiration to become a pop star and she still does today.
Growing up in England, Charli was heavily influenced by The Spice Girls. She was obsessed with their pop personas, and this likely influenced how she built her own pop persona. The style Charli embraced during her debut era, the True Romance era, was very reminiscent of The Spice Girls.
And in terms of production and sound, Uffie significantly influenced Charli. Discovering Uffie and the whole Ed Banger music collective/label on Myspace changed Charli’s perspective on music. Growing up, she wanted to create music like theirs — music to party to and play really loud.
What’s the biggest misconception about her?
That she only produces a specific type of sound and doesn’t explore other genres. This perception is particularly common among casual listeners or non-fans. Another misconception I’ve seen is that she’s not a good songwriter, which is a ridiculous statement. As Charli herself has said, “I think it’s harder to write really respected party music than it is to write a love song.” Writing catchy, fun music that resonates with people is a skill in itself. Just because her music isn’t always about serious topics doesn’t mean it’s not valid or well-crafted.
What’s the biggest misconception about her fans?
I think the biggest misconception about Charli’s fans is that they don’t respect her as an artist. While there have been instances where some fans have gone too far at meet-and-greets or live shows, it’s unfair to generalise her entire fan base based on these isolated events. As the person behind Charli XCX Updates, I’ve interacted with thousands of her fans from all corners of the internet. I am constantly amazed by how diverse her fan base is, not just in terms of age, nationality, and cultural background, but also in terms of creativity.
How would you describe Charli’s Brat era in three words?
Raw, ruthless, clubby.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘4687184124727568’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=422996267859235&version=v2.0”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
