The opening track of Charli XCX’s third album is entitled Next Level Charli. It’s a statement of intent: this 15-track album is her most personal and mature record, while still maintaining the right balance of poppy party songs with which the 27-year-old singer (real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison) has made her name.
The standout tracks are collaborations: Gone, featuring Héloïse Letissier aka Chris from Christine and the Queens, is a sophisticated, anguished hit about hopeless love, featuring a clever arrangement of hyperactive beats, twittering electronics, and harmonising between this unexpected pop power couple. 1999, featuring snake-hipped millennial hypebeast Troye Sivan, is earwormy pop meta-nostalgia (“I just wanna go back, back to 1999/Take a ride to my old neighborhood/I just wanna go back, sing, ‘Hit me, baby, one more time’”).
And Blame It On Your Love is another belter, featuring a cameo from queen of the zeitgeist Lizzo, a fast confessional about bad, hurtful behaviour.
Other highlights include the opener, a party track with a pulsating beat (“I’ll go hard/I’ll go fast/And I’ll never look back”), and Cross You Out, which pulls off the coup of being a mournful break-up track with a ricocheting beat. White Mercedes is a powerful lament to self-hate and love that showcases her voice beautifully. Welcome to next-level Charli.
