CHARLI XCX - CRASH
Less than two years after the release of her sixth album how i’m feeling now, Charli XCX found success with her newest highly produced dance-pop album CRASH, created over the course of the pandemic. Featuring collaborations from rising pop stars Christine and the Queens, Caroline Polachek, and Rina Sawayama, CRASH is, simply put, a pop masterpiece. Throughout the past few years, Charli XCX has made a name for herself as one of the trailblazers in introducing hyper-pop to the mainstream, and she has recently strayed away from her origins as a Top 40 pop artist to explore more work as a producer. CRASH feels like the perfect balance between her early dance-pop hits and more recent hyper-pop projects.
Much of this album features influences from earlier musical trends. Songs like ‘Crash,’ ‘Good Ones’, ‘Every Rule,’ and ‘Yuck’ display heavy influence from 1980s pop music and feature a mixture of themes – from break-ups to love songs.
The album begins with the title track ‘Crash,’ opening with the lyrics “I’m about to crash into the water / gonna take you with me,” feeling oddly reminiscent of her 2012 hit with Icona Pop, ‘I Love It;’ “I crashed my car into the bridge / I watched, I let it burn.” Right from the beginning, Charli is telling her fans that this album brings back many elements of her earlier sound, remodeled with newer electronic influences.
‘Beg For You’ samples September’s one-hit-wonder ‘Cry for You,’ in a subtle but nostalgic way, bringing us back to the club hits of the early 2000s. Another dance song that’s reminiscent of early 2000’s pop music is ‘Used To Know Me,’ another break-up song from a positive perspective of someone who is “finally free from your control.”
My personal favorite song on CRASH is ‘Lightning.’ Charli XCX is wonderful at utilizing isolated vocals to capture her listener’s attention and build suspense before a beat drop, and ‘Lightning’ mixes this element with the heavily auto-tuned vocals that gave Charli the reputation of being a hyper-pop superstar. Along with this genius use of isolated vocals to build suspense before an incredibly catchy chorus, so many complex production elements are sprinkled throughout this song, it is hard to even notice many characteristics until your fourth of fifth listen.
With ‘Lightning’ being both incredibly catchy as well as unique, it is no wonder that this song was briefly trending on TikTok. On top of all of these intriguing characteristics, the song perfectly closes with a thunder crash, keeping up with the song and album titles.
CRASH by Charli XCX is the perfect balance between mindless dance-pop and emotional lyrics, early 2000’s club hits and 1980s dance-pop, and Charli XCX’s original sound as a Top 40 pop artist and her more recent reputation as a hyper-pop trailblazer. The album explores many different aspects of relationships; from being in love to letting the good ones go, or being disgusted by affection from your partner, CRASH is the perfect relationship album for any situation.
Emily Gottlieb
★★★★☆