Music, People

05\09\2014
Written by Daan Rombaut



Interview with Charli XCX

Charli_XCX
By Atlantic Records (UK) (James Dillon) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
After laying the groundwork by writing songs and performing at raves from the age of 14, Charli XCX first conquered the blogosphere and tumblr universe before gaining public awareness with her notable collaboration with Iggy Azaelia on ‘Fancy’ – despite an excellent first album ‘True Romance’ released in 2013. We had the chance to have a chat with her about her new album that’s coming out in October, David Bowie, and seeing colours in music.

A bit tired from doing an early radio show that morning and a year of recording a new album while doing shows from L.A. to Tokyo, she decides to install herself in the couch of her hotel room for our talk: “As soon as ‘True Romance’ came out, I started on the ideas of the new album, so I’ve been working on it for over a year and a half. Together with a full tour, it’s been non-stop, also because of the collaboration with Iggy Azaelia. That’s been really fun; it’s cool hanging out with a rapper. I always wanted to be a rapper, but I was never cool enough (laughs), so I’m glad I can live the dream now through Iggy. It’s close to being a rapper. And it’s so fun hanging out and performing with her because she has such a vivid imagination. The video for ‘Fancy’ was all her idea. She just came to me and said: “We’re doing Clueless.” It’s one of my favourite movies of all time, and it worked perfectly. It’s just an iconic movie and Tai Frasier is my favourite character.”

‘Boom Clap’, the first single of her upcoming album was featured in the 2014 film/tearjerker ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ (based on John Green’s 2012 eponymous novel). Part of the film is set in Amsterdam and Charli visits the same spots in the video for ‘Boom Clap’ (watch the video below). “It was very quick and easy, the song came out about a year and a half ago. The makers of the film liked it and said they were interested in using it, so I read the book and watched the movie and liked it, and that was it.” ‘Boom Clap’ is one of her many songs on the subject of love, although the greater part on her debut album were a bit gloomier: “I used to think I wrote better when I was in love, but now I’m just good at writing. Right now, this period of my life, I think I’ve found my voice. And I just want to write songs all the time. But I’m worried that could change. I’m dreading that moment.”

In October we can expect a new album for her, but for now we have to keep ourselves entertained with the singles ‘Boom Clap’ and ‘Break The Rules’. The latter packs a lot of energy, very similar to The Hives, and sounds like an anthem for the high schooler of the year 2014. The upcoming album will be called ‘Sucker’ and will steer away from her debut album: “It’s more live, more raw, and more guitar-lead. It’s a pop album, but it does have a punk energy. The inspiration behind it came from a less electronic place, with influences from The Ramones, Weezer, and The Hives. ‘True Romance’ was definitely more brooding and dark. I was also listening to The Donnas and Bikini Kill, 60s girl groups like The Feminine Complex and 60s French artists with these gang vocals. It’s definitely a girl power record.”

Charli XCX first gained recognition for her work as a songwriter for other artists, such as Icona Pop for whom she wrote ‘I Love It’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxajLWwzqY) and which gained massive attention in 2013. “I see myself more as an artist instead of only a songwriter or only a singer. It just took a while for me to take off: I started out performing at rave parties, which learned me a lot about performance. Playing at a rave or warehouse party everyone is on drugs so your performance must be attention-grabbing and wild. That made a huge impression on me as a 14 year old, since I never saw music like that before. I also think it was my first introduction to fashion and the idea of ‘club kids’. It was also an introduction into this whole creative world and that has always affected me. I wonder that if I hadn’t gone to those raves, I’d be here now or I might be doing something completely different. It opened my eyes to so many new things. I was from the countryside and knew nothing about any of these things.”

Despite the fact that Charli is British, her first break-through came in the US: “My first record was definitely more successful in the US than in the UK, but I think things are changing now and the Brits begin to like what I do and that’s cool because it’s where I’m from. Until now I have toured more in the States and I think there’s more of a blog culture there, and that’s where my music lived for quite a long time.”

Just like Blood Orange a.k.a. Dev Hynes (who recently did a TED talk on his personal experiences with the condition), Charli has a form of synesthesia in which she matches colours with music.. “I was actually hanging out with him a week ago, after the VMA’s. I admire him a lot, he’s a brilliant songwriter and producer. And such a nice guy, he’s definitely an amazing talent of our time. My synesthesia comes from a place where I’m not really technical in knowing everything about production when it comes to writing songs. I just see it through colours, it’s hard to explain but when I’m writing a song I see the colours in my head. There are certain colours I associate with bad songs and there are certain colours I like in music. When I’m writing songs in the studio, I see the music video before the song is finished. I’m more inspired visually than by other artists or other songs. It’s more about photographs and colours and films. Music that is pink, black, red or purple is ‘good music’ while I hate music that is brown, yellow or green. Drum ’n Bass can be ranked with the latter hues, while The Cure is black, midnight blue with pink clouds and stars.”

The first half of 2014 saw a lot of strong female pop artists breaking through, but that doesn’t mean the music industry has become more gender equal: “Behind the scenes the music business is definitely still run by men, although right now there is a wave of female artists who are pushing pop music and self-running their careers and that does a lot for females. As a woman, once you’re successful there’s a lot more comparisons made than there would be with guys. The media seems to be lead by this idea that there can only be one top female. I think people try to make it into a competition between women, while the women themselves don’t care about that. Sometimes it seems they want to see us tear each other apart. A lot of pop music is boring, so people invent gossip for it to be interesting, whereas when Bowie was still making regular records, people were just talking about his art instead of competition.”

Packing years of experience while having just turned 22, Charli XCX’s star seems one of those that will only rise higher. Now we only have to wait for that highly anticipated album that’s coming out in October.