The British Charlotte Aitchison, alias Charli XCXis a wonderful rarity of the contemporary pop landscape: a totally self-made artist, equally fond of the easy and the strange, halfway (or in chaotic, constant back and forth) between the mainstream and the underground. If she wanted she could be really famous, but it’s too hard for her to be herself.
It’s not going so bad either. His previous album, ‘Crash’, went to number one in the UK. But she has already warned in an interview with the British ‘GQ’ that the music from the imminent ‘Brat’ (out on Friday, the 7th) will not be played at Starbucks. Instead of trying to climb the pop firmament, Charli wants provide soundtrack to illegal raves in basements. Or to perfect culminations of a festival like the one that took place at Primavera in the rawest of the raw dawn from Saturday to Sunday.
After an introduction in the key of Belgian hardcore techno, he overwhelmed everyone and everyone by linking an unleashed version of ‘365’ with a no less accelerated ‘remix’ (courtesy in part of George Daniel of The 1975) of ‘Welcome to my island’, the theme of Caroline Polachek. As in their legendary (and somewhat less crowded) 2019 performance at this same festival, no hint of a live band, no ‘dj’, no dancers: just her, her contagious energy and that absolutely charismatic voice that releases endorphins the second it sounds..
Other songs were played in remixed versions, such as ‘1999’ (their iconic collaboration with Troy Sivan) and ‘Speed drive’, their contribution (a hybrid of Robyn with Toni Basil) to the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack. More engines with ‘Vroom vroom’, the title song of the 2016 epé that, on the arm of the deceased SOPHIE, saw her turn towards the most daring phase of her career and set a standard in hyperpop. In fact, for an hour she barely took her foot off the accelerator, overwhelming and hypnotizing with the deliberately repetitive ‘B2b’ or remembering her capacity for the most universal and relentless pop with the gift to Pop Icon ‘I love it’.
