Promising A "Pussy Power Party"

"Bad” and “bratty” are words that follow 22-year-old Charli XCX aka Charlotte Aitchison around. She has a take-no-prisoners approach to life and her persona, at times, seems to outshine her music. Whether the world agrees to take her on is somewhat beside the point. It is worth noting, however, that the world is still undecided. Aitchison has been the writer or wingwoman on a couple of smash hits – Icona Pop’s I Love It and Iggy Azalea’s Fancy – and made her way into the Top 10 with Boom Clap and her recent Rita Ora collab, Doing It. But her second album Sucker, released last December, stalled in the UK Top 20 and the Billboard Top 30. 

All credit to Aitchison; she doesn’t seem to give a shit. “I don’t do this for charts. I never have and never will. I am very selfish when it comes to making records. I make the records I want to make and if I’m happy with them, that’s the main priority for me,” she says. So which tune on Sucker best sums up Charli XCX? “Right this second, the title track, because I just woke up and feel grumpy and want to swear a lot,” she laughs. The F-bomb is liberally splattered through the tune in question and Aitchison likes to make her fans raise a middle finger when she sings it live. It’s all very emblematic of how Aitchison is feeling since the record dropped. “The girl who made [her debut album] True Romance was still finding her feet, and very concerned about what people thought of her. Sucker is the opposite. It’s brash and bold and I don’t worry about what people think of me right now. It’s very liberating.”

"I don’t worry about what people think of me right now. It’s very liberating."

Aitchison dodged criticism that claimed she sold out with Sucker, which has more a more direct, party-starting palette than her previous work, but she’s more than happy with the result. “It would have been very easy for me to make another ‘cool’ record with a bunch of extremely talented cool people, but I don’t think I would have been able to write big songs like that. And that’s what I wanted to do, write big pop songs with guitars.” But anyway, she says, Sucker is so five minutes ago. “I have a short attention span and I’ve already moved on. I can’t wait to make the next record now.”

Charli XCX is back in the country for Groovin The Moo and she promises a “pussy power party” on stage. She wants to make the kids in the regions sweat, although she’s not so keen on exploring the countryside. “Don’t you guys have crazy wildlife out there?! I’m not going to go exploring the nature much because I’m worried I will get stung and/or eaten.” She will happily accept gifts, however. “I really like pizza and pop tarts and I’m running low on Justin Bieber perfume, so if [my fans] wanna restock me on any of that stuff after my shows then they’re more than welcome to do so.”