By Tom Lanham
A
t last month's American Music
Awards, held at the Nokia Theatre
in Los Angeles, British diva Charli
XCX did not nab any actual physical trophies. But her appearance there was
nonetheless a personal triumph, as she
strolled out in a powder-blue prom dress,
then tore it away to reveal a punky latex
miniskirt and matching halter top, as she
sang "Boom Clap"– her Top 10 single from
the soundtrack for tearjerking flick "The
Fault in Our Stars"– and her latest hit,
"Break the Rules," a sinister synth stomper
with the rebellious chorus of "I don’t want
to go to school/ I just want to break the
rules." The songs – coupled with her duet
with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea on
their chart-climber "Fancy" – prefaced the
December 15th release of her new album
Sucker. It also signaled the end of a long,
dark period for the singer, and the beginning of a bright new year that will most
undoubtedly belong to her. Next
November, she’ll sweep those AMAs.
Born Charlotte Aitchison, the singer –
only 22 – has made a rollicking, on-point
follow up to her texturally-diverse 2013
bow on Atlantic, True Romance. Sucker
opens on the woo-woo-draped title track,
and her inquisitive, almost rhetorical question – "Do you get me now? Dear God, I’m
a killer now." Indeed, she is. It's followed
by the irresistible "Break the Rules," then
several other numbers, any one of which
could be a monster Billboard hit. There's
the huge, handclap-punctuated anthem
"Breaking Up"; a guitar-grinding rocker
called "Famous" (which mocks the quest
for notoriety for its own sake); the Queenelaborate chant "Hanging Around"; a classic Bic-flicking power ballad, "Die
photo by Bella Howard
Tonight," destined to light up stadiums as
a set closer, and a punk-fueled powerchorder dubbed "Body of My Own," an
apparent ode to masturbation ("I'm into
myself, don't need you/ I can do it better
when I'm all alone." And – as the old
female-empowerment adage goes – A
woman needs a man like a fish needs a
bicycle.
Who, exactly, is the Sucker? The lady
laughs, wickedly. "I guess partially it's my
cynical critique on the music industry as a
whole," she growls. "And it's partially
about all of the people who told me that I
was not going to be able to do this." She
pauses, then sighs. "And I guess it's partially me, as well. Because even though I'm
very aware that I'm critiquing the pop circus that is the Top 40 world, I'm also very
aware that I'm kind of becoming part of
that now. So it's partially also on me, too,
you know? So there are quite a few fingerpointers in that song."
Explaining "Famous," the star is
momentarily at a loss for words. "What's
funny with "Famous" is that song wasn't
something…." she starts, then stops. "The
thing is, when I write my songs, I'm never
thinking about how they relate to me or
really what I'm saying -- I just write the
song, and maybe subconsciously, it's
linked to my life. But I only really realize
the link to it afterwards, after it's done.
Afterwards, I'm like ‘Oh yeah! Shit! That
could be about something that I've been
keeping inside for awhile, but I've never
really realized it!' So "Famous" was just
something that came out – it was me and
(collaborator) Greg Kurstin just doing our
thing for a couple of hours, and that came
out of it."
Other co-writers on the record? Weezer
22 illinoisentertainer.com december 2014
mastermind Rivers Cuomo, Vampire
Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, and
Swedish Svengali Patrik Berger, who
chipped in on four separate songs. Believe
it or not, Aitchison reveals, at her lowest
moment, to cheer herself up, she flew off to
Stockholm and disappeared into Berger's
studio. "I started making punk music, and
I was even covering songs by Patrik's old
band Snuffed by the Yakuza," she explains.
"And I kind of found my voice again, I
suppose, and I got out a lot of aggression.
And I think it kind of put me in a better
place." A good deal of those in-your-face
recordings are just sitting around, awaiting
future release. "I wouldn't say it's a whole
album, but it's definitely an EP's worth,"
she adds. "And they're all pretty cool
songs, and all two minutes long. A couple
of the more pop songs from that session
made it onto "Sucker." But there are at least
three others that I'm going to put out eventually."
On the surface, Charli XCX's life looked
almost like a fairy-tale. She had started
composing and posting songs in her early
teens – awkward sentiments like "Art
Bitch" – and she even signed to the swank
Asylum imprint, although her 14 debut
disc for it was never officially released. She
tried art school for a year, but
boomeranged back to her key passion,
songwriting, eventually arriving at the
eclectic mix that would comprise "True
Romance," like the Cocteau Twins-ethereal
"Nuclear Seasons," a Lene Lovich-eccentric
"You're the One," and Siouxsie Sioux-sleek
Gothic experiment "Black Roses." Then
came her composition "I Love It," which
was fortuitously pounced upon by
Swedish girl duo Icona Pop; It went on to
become a worldwide smash, and XCX
even appeared in its video. Aitchison's
career looked red-hot from the outside.
Inside, however, it was colder than the
tomb.
"I Love It" had grown almost too popular. And although its writer was suddenly
being asked to collaborate with others, like
Britney Spears (an experience she truly
enjoyed), assembly-line requests started
pouring in. "There were a lot of people
who were like ‘Oh, there's this new girl
band being put together by a label, and
they're basing it on "I Love It" meets
(Azealia Banks' hit) "212," blah, blah, blah,"
she recalls, none too fondly. "And they just
wanted "I Love It" meets "212" on all of
their songs. And I'm like "okay, well. I can't
really replicate that song – it just kind of
happened, and I don't even know how.' It
all just felt very….very stale, I suppose."
In retrospect, the artist can see it all too
clearly. "I was pretty tied up in the post-"I
Love It" craziness. And half of it was eating
at me, eating me alive. And another part of
it was me actually wanting to