Is She the New Britney Spears—Or the New Lou Reed?
Earlier this year, I wrote an article with the headline “Slow Down, Charli XCX.” The pop singer had followed a hit album, 2024’s Brat, with a steady pulse of output—a remix album, a soundtrack album, a host of movie roles, plus many, many marketing stunts—that had me exhausted by someone whom I consider to be one of the most exciting voices in music. Quantity was beating quality; good enough was smushing great. Five months later, a new Charli XCX album has arrived, with all of the memes and metacommentary that tend to swirl around music’s most online star. It’s called Music, Fashion, Film, and it was conceived in what she’s described as a burst of inspiration during last fall’s Paris Fashion Week. With a spiky and Scotch-taped sound, the album is a 30-minute broadside against overthinking the artistic process. In direct challenge to those who feel she’s saturated the market (I’m not the only one), she’s rallying for an idea that feels very now but really is also very old: More is more. Love songs …
.png?trim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200%3A800&ssl=1 "SNL UK: Aimee Lou Wood turns ‘mean’ teeth joke on its head as she prepares to host show")
