Charli XCX recently attended the 2023 British Fashion Awards, where she was asked a few questions on the red carpet. When asked about the highlight of her year, she first answered, “Something came in my head and I was like ‘Oh. I don’t want to say that,'” which could have alluded to her recent engagement to producer and the 1975 drummer George Daniel. All that aside, she then touched on some recent music projects she has in the works.
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“I finished a record but it’s not out,” she said. “So, next year that will be out, and then I can say that’s my highlight.” Recently, Charli XCX released two singles, “Speed Drive” from The Barbie Movie soundtrack, and “In the City” with Sam Smith.
Her fifth album, Crash, dropped in March 2022 and was generally lauded by critics for its themes and influences. Charli took on an evil, devilish persona while promoting the album to coincide with its deal-with-the-devil concept. She wanted to approach the toxicity of the music industry and the aspect of “selling your soul” that sometimes comes with signing record deals or making it big in music. She also referenced the 1996 David Cronenberg film Crash, naming her album after the film and taking inspiration from the themes and plot.
“Referencing Cronenberg is unavoidable when the album is called Crash,” she told NPR in March 2022. “For this album, I was exploring the idea of what the most sexualized, heightened, vampiric version of myself could be. And I think that also plays into the ‘selling your soul’ narrative [and] danger — it’s very volatile, the image of this album.”
She also addressed at the time how people received it, admitting, “I think some people are really turned off by it, which is quite interesting, and some people love it. It’s heightened sex, sexiness — that’s where I was at. And I think that does relate back to Cronenberg’s Crash because that book and that movie is about these people who want and feed off their favorite thing and will go to any length to feel this sexuality and connection.”
The album featured the title song, “Crash,” as well as “New Shapes” featuring Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek, and “Good Ones.” The album encapsulated an intersection of themes like sex, violence, parasitic behavior, and technology in a way that honored cult-favorite media while also blazing a trail for conceptualized pop music.
(Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
