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Tag: Charli XCX discography

  • Charli XCX Doing A Skims Ad Campaign Is More Crash Than Brat

    Charli XCX Doing A Skims Ad Campaign Is More Crash Than Brat

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    During one of her many interviews about Brat, Charli XCX mentioned being committed to whatever “character”/“persona” she’s trying on for her album of the moment. (Though it bears mentioning that no one could ever be as committed as Marina and the Diamonds playing Electra Heart for the album of the same name back in 2012.) Admitting that, to her, this aspect of it is more interesting that the music itself. But it seems that, in capitulating to becoming a “Skims model” (a term that somehow feels and sounds derisive probably because it inherently is), she’s having a bit of whiplash in terms of recalling just who, exactly, she’s supposed to be embodying for the (brat) summer of 2024, instead reverting more freely to her Crash persona from 2022. The one that “took every advertising deal” (including, most glaringly, the one with Samsung) without the slightest bit of shame or hesitation because, hey, this was her “sellout” era. Whoring herself out for [insert company name here] and gleefully taking the money in return was, accordingly, completely “on-brand.”

    Kim Kardashian, needless to say, has been in the “whoring herself out” era ever since the days of sticking her head up Paris Hilton’s asshole and keeping it in there until she could come out with a slightly more famous face than before. Funnily enough, Kardashian herself does exemplify a brat in the more conventional sense of the word (along with the children she’s “raising”). That is, minus the part where she’s not a little girl anymore—though it’s no secret that most millennial women, particularly those in the limelight, still can’t help but act that way (see also: Paris Hilton and Lana Del Rey). And yes, what was brattier than Kim screaming, “My diamond earring!” after losing a stud reportedly worth seventy-five thousand dollars while swimming in Bora Bora circa 2011? Her melodramatic delivery and traditional brat reaction was, thus, the polar opposite of being “very demure, very mindful.”

    As is XCX choosing to pose for Skims’ cotton “underthings.” Regardless of trying to make it more “Brat coded” by having Petra Collins do the photoshoot and “tongue-in-cheekly” captioning it “#ad” (in keeping with the dry, straightforward labeling of things in the Brat world). A caption that essentially “Brat-ifies” Crash behavior. In any case, maybe some part of Kardashian (aside from the part that jumps on every bandwagon to capitalize as much as possible for both more money and clout) tapped XCX for the campaign because she saw a “kindred” in the literal meaning of “brat” as opposed to XCX’s modern twist on the concept, which essentially means being messy (e.g., wearing the same makeup for days at a time), not trying too hard and being, in effect, too cool to care.

    Thus, posing for a Skims ad, however “no frills,” feels very much the opposite of Brat. As though XCX can’t help but return, ever so slightly, to the girl she was on Crash. The unapologetic sellout that could collect the cash without judgment because that’s simply the name of the game when you’re an Ultra-Famous Pop Star. Such an unapologetic sellout could also effortlessly get into bed with Kim Kardashian and her odious Skims brand without thinking twice about it. In point of fact, Crash’s last song (on the standard edition) is called “Twice,” a track featuring the lyrics, “Don’t, don’t, don’t think twice/Don’t think about it.” Although she might have been referring to the end of the world/mortality (it was sort of like her more upbeat version of Billie Eilish’s “Everybody Dies”), in this instance, it can easily apply to the idea of not thinking twice about becoming one of Kardashian’s growing list of shills. Much to Taylor Swift’s increasing dismay, as she seems to be losing all the “cool” girls to the former Mrs. West and her flesh-toned shapewear. Even her own “good friend,” Lana Del Rey, who also blithely donned the coquette look in time for Skims’ Valentine’s Day 2024 ad campaign. Resultantly, there were rumors of a fallout between Swift and Del Rey after the latter showed up to the Met Gala with a cinched-waist-to-the-max Kardashian.

    As for Charli XCX, despite knowing she “couldn’t even be her if she tried” (a lyric from Brat’s “Sympathy is a knife,” which features some heavy allusions to Swift), the Crash album was her biggest attempt at being “that pop star bitch.” You know, the kind with Swiftian-level juggernaut powers. While, at the same time, also being her biggest troll of the music industry. The entire concept, after all, was centered on the “Faustian pact” nature of becoming a star (Maxxxine also comes to mind on that front). And, if anyone knows all about such Faustian pacts, it’s surely Kim Kardashian. So perhaps this “deal with the devil” connection also played a role in XCX’s “attraction” to the “girl with no talent.”

    Or maybe XCX simply wanted to look “hot in it” (to quote one of her songs), donning a see-through white cotton bra that miraculously shows no sign of any nipples (let alone hard ones) and matching white cotton boxers while flashing what has become her signature “dead-eyed” look. Though one has to wonder if that expression is “ironic” anymore, so much as a sign that she played the part of Crash corporate sellout for so long that it’s now bled into the Brat era. XCX even had the audacity to declare, “SKIMS empowers people to feel confident in their own skin, which is the essence of Brat. I am excited to be working with a brand that understands that comfort and style don’t need to be compromised.” Aside from Charli sounding like a marketing robot/recently converted cult member, it has to be said that what obviously does need to be compromised, at this juncture, in order to be “brat” is artistic integrity.

    After Crash came out, XCX declared, “I needed to switch after Crash—I wasn’t born to do radio liners. That’s not who I am at all.” But if Brat is (or was) meant to be something of its polar opposite/a return to her “fringe club days,” an ad with Skims certainly doesn’t align with that narrative. But, then again, perhaps the corporate-ification of Brat (complete with Kamala Harris joining in on the meme trend for her presidential campaign) is causing a rightfully schizophrenic reaction on Charli’s part.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • “360” Featuring Robyn and Yung Lean Continues to Showcase Charli XCX’s Commitment to the Art of the Remix

    “360” Featuring Robyn and Yung Lean Continues to Showcase Charli XCX’s Commitment to the Art of the Remix

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    A collaboration between Charli XCX and Robyn and Charli XCX and Yung Lean, respectively, has seemed like a long time coming. That said, perhaps Charli XCX saw fit to kill two birds with one stone by offering a remix of “360” that features both artists on it. Charli’s nods to Robyn have been steadfast in recent years, showing her love (song allusion intended) most recently by sampling “Cobrastyle” (from Robyn’s 2005 self-titled album) for “Speed Drive” on the Barbie Soundtrack. 

    As for her connection to Yung Lean, it should be fairly obvious that the two share certain similar “Tumblrcore” sensibilities. Put these three together in the blender that is the “360” remix and the result is actually more disjointed than one would expect. Yet, somehow, it works. And maybe part of the discordant cohesion stems from both Robyn and Yung Lean being Swedes. After all, it’s no secret that solid gold pop/dance music just naturally courses through the veins of the Swedish. So no wonder Yung Lean flexes, “We put this shit together so carelessly.” While other musicians might not want to make that assertion based on how it might open their song up to more than just light criticism for being “sloppy,” here the braggadocio works in favor of the song’s overall “charmingly arrogant” aura. 

    Besides, if anyone can back up the right to be arrogant about their music, it’s Robyn. Which is exactly why she self-referentially touts, “​​Killin’ this shit since 1994/Got everybody in the club dancing on their own.” Charli, too, has been in the music game long enough to have earned some of her bratty hauteur, which commences in the very first line of the remix with, “They-they-they all wanna sound like me.” And yes, based on the recent shade thrown at Camila Cabello for effectively imitating Charli’s “hyperpop” sound for her C,XOXO “era,” it would seem the internet is well-aware of XCX’s influence and saturation into the mainstream that once kept her boxed out (that is, until she decided to do a parody of being mainstream with Crash). At the very least, though, Camila seems to know better than to release C,XOXO before Brat, with the former coming out three weeks after the latter. 

    Not that it would faze Charli either way, whose confidence level reaches another peak in “360” when she sings, “Me and Lean and Robyn, we don’t even have to practice/We got many hits, get you feeling nostalgic.” To be sure, Charli hits like “Boom Clap,” “I Love It, “Fancy” and “1999” (the most nostalgic of all) always get the crowds in a frenzy. Needless to say, if Robyn and/or Yung Lean ever did join her onstage for the version of “360,” it would cause all-out mayhem in the audience. Even more than if Addison Rae decided to cameo for the remix version of “Von Dutch.” Both remixes, by the way, are made to sound like altogether entirely different songs (with “360” remaining faithful only to the original backing music). 

    While remixes of the past might have only added in an extra verse from the new person appearing on it (e.g., the Left Eye version of “No Scrubs” [which should have been the “normal” version to begin with] or Ariana Grande’s ill-advised decision to include Mariah Carey on the remix for “yes, and?”), Charli has set a gold-standard precedent for making entirely new tracks through her remixes (hear also: “Welcome to My Island”). While others might be content to provide a few barely noticeable tweaks, Charli treats the remix with the same reverence that Madonna’s remixers usually do (including the likes of William Orbit, Victor Calderone, Tracy Young, Stuart Price, Junior Vasquez, Paul Oakenfold, etc.). And that is the mark of someone who truly cares about dance music. 

    Not that there was ever any doubt in the minds of Charli fans that she wasn’t hopelessly devoted to the genre. A genre she single-handedly helped reinvent at the dawn of the 2010s and continues to perfect as the 2020s forge ahead, filled with plenty of events that would make it otherwise difficult to even conceive of dancing without a bit of encouragement to do so from her music. 

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The “Toxic” Video for a New, Less Glamorous Era: Charli XCX’s “Von Dutch”

    The “Toxic” Video for a New, Less Glamorous Era: Charli XCX’s “Von Dutch”

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    Although Charli XCX’s first album, True Romance, wasn’t released until 2013, she has always exuded the sonic and visual aura of being a daughter of the 00s. And there was no more significant “mother” in that decade than Britney Spears, who kicked off the aughts with her iconic “Oops!…I Did It Again” video and album. By 2004, however, Spears seemed determined to one-up herself with the video for “Toxic,” arguably among her most well-known visuals after “…Baby One More Time,”  “Oops!…I Did It Again”  and “I’m A Slave 4 U.” In it, Spears channels Pan Am-era chic in a flight attendant uniform that one would have never seen in the “friendly” skies of the 00s, let alone now. 

    But even more than her 60s-inspired flight attendant ensemble, it was her literal nude look that stood out in the eyes of viewers. As Spears confirmed in an interview (something she seems to have thrown a peace sign up on altogether since the conservatorship ended) from 2016 with Jonathan Ross, it was simply crystals/mini diamonds (or “hand diamonds,” as she called them) glued onto her body and paired with a white G-string. And voilà, immortal look achieved. 

    With the video released at the beginning of 2004, it would eventually serve as a reminder of 00s “polish” and decadence in the years before the 2008 financial crisis. In the months just leading up to it, Spears would release the less polished (visual-wise) video for “Gimme More,” the lead single from 2007’s Blackout. After that, she would unleash the moody, clapback-at-the-critics song, “Piece of Me”—which would become such a signature that she named her Vegas residency in its honor. It is the theme of that particular song which Charli XCX seeks to repurpose on “Von Dutch” (a title in keeping with her 00s reverence). Accordingly, the Torso-directed video commences with XCX being stalked by paparazzi at the airport (Charles de Gaulle, to be exact—because Charli is just so Euro).

    As she walks past the proverbial vultures with her aloofness and sunglasses as a shield, she then whips her shades off, along with her skirt (so she can sport just her underwear and tights underneath), and gets right into the first verse: “It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me/Yeah I heard you talk about me, that’s the word on the street/You’re obsessin’ [that accusation lending the song un certain Mariah flair], just confess it/Put your hands up/It’s obvious I’m your number one.” (This also channeling, incidentally, a lyric Goldfrapp sings on 2005’s, what else, “Number 1”.) 

    From the start, it’s apparent that XCX is much less apologetic than Spears was on “Piece of Me” as she sang with more than a slightly sardonic tinge, “I’m Miss Bad Media Karma/Another day, another drama/Guess I can’t see no harm in workin’ and bein’ a mama.” Charli, rather than inserting semi-apologetic caveats in her lyrics, declares full-stop, “​​I’m just living that life Von Dutch, cult classic, but I still pop/I get money, you get mad because the bank’s shut/Yeah, I know your little secret, put your hands up/It’s so obvious I’m your number one.” In the spirit of another 00s piece of pop culture that has inspired of late, Mean Girls, there are many aspects of “Von Dutch” that mirror the content of Renée Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Not My Fault.” Wherein the former boasts, “It’s not my fault/You gotta pay what I get for free/It’s not my fault/You’re like, you’re like, you’re like in love with me.” According to Charli, nor is it her fault either. She’s “just livin’ that life, Von dutch, cult classic, but I still pop.” 

    Even when forced to mingle among the hoi polloi at the airport. Because, again, these are not the glamorous days of Britney’s “Toxic” video, during which she plays an international spy who also happens to be on a mission to poison her ex-boyfriend. For Charli, it’s less about the destination and more about the journey as she treats the entire airport and, subsequently, the airplane like her runway. Or, more to the point, as any “TikToker” would if CDG had agreed to shut down the terminal for them so they could dance and mug for the camera to their heart’s content without judgment (not that such a worry has ever stopped an “influencer” from annoying people in the public space before). Not to mention providing an empty plane to “bop around” on before making one’s way out onto the wing to do a jig there as well. And, as though to highlight the differences between 2004 Britney on an airplane and 2024 Charli on one, the latter takes the drink cart she’s pushing and violently shoves it down on the floor without a second thought. A stark contrast to Spears sexily pushing her own champagne-filled cart down the aisle on her airplane to “serve with a smile” that hides her ulterior motives.

    But back to the TikTok video flavor, funnily enough, XCX seems to shade that ilk with the line, “Do that littlе dance, without it, you’d be namelеss.” Something in the tone of the lyrics also giving Amy Winehouse on “Fuck Me Pumps” when she jibes, “Don’t be mad at me, ‘cause you’re pushing thirty/And your old tricks no longer work” (how ahead of her time she was on Gen Z-level ageism…along with Lily Allen on “22”). This all further speaking to how XCX is ready to drench herself in the 00s…much as the rest of the pop culture-obsessed set has done of late. But XCX is additionally bringing more than a dash of her “Tumblr sleaze” into the equation, hence breaking the fourth wall by slamming her head against the camera to mimic the effect of beating the shit out of someone—whoever her collective nemesis is, in this case. 

    She then grabs onto an automatic floor-cleaning machine and holds on for a bit before jumping the turnstile at a boarding gate like it’s merely a subway stop. On the empty plane (an Airbus A380), XCX continues her visceral, “anti-‘Toxic’” performance, pursued by the invisible antagonist she keeps fighting back with bratty (her next album is titled Brat, after all) panache. Or perhaps “anti” isn’t the word so much as “antithesis of.” Because there is nothing rehearsed-feeling or, as mentioned, polished about this the way there was in “Toxic.” This, to reemphasize, echoing the fact that all sense of glamor and being able to put up a veneer of elegance and sophistication has dissipated in our post-Empire world. Indeed, XCX is effectively putting a spotlight on the motif of how fucking shitty it is to travel now compared to 2004 (easier and less dehumanizing that year than now, despite the world coming fresh off 9/11). 

    Elsewhere in the lyrics of the song, XCX takes a page from Olivia Rodrigo branding her ex as a “fame fucker” on “vampire” (since fame, after all, is supposedly accessible to everyone now). Thus, Charli jabs at her haters, “Why you lying? You won’t fuck unless he’s famous.” It’s a long way from Britney touting, “I’m Mrs. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (you want a piece of me)/I’m Mrs. Oh My God That Britney’s Shameless (you want a piece of me).” Where Spears was forced to give up those pieces of herself to the public mostly against her will, Charli is of an era wherein everyone is willing and ready to whore it all out for the sake of fame (and hopefully, the added and often correlative bonus of money). Doing it for the hallowed “benefit” of being able to say you’re “famous”—or rather, “viral.” That word so evocative of a disease…which is precisely what fame has become. A bug that everyone wants to catch like corona at a party in 2020 Tuscaloosa. Because if you’re not trying to get famous while the world burns around you, you might not have a chance to enjoy the perks before it’s burned entirely. Thanks, in part, to jumbo jets like the one so prominently featured in XCX’s video (and yes, Charli is no stranger to promoting fossil fuels in her songs [including “Vroom Vroom” and “Speed Drive”] and visuals [e.g., “2999”]).

    It’s hard to put much “Toxic”-level varnish on this bleak human condition of the next generation. Maybe that’s why, by the end, XCX is as triumphant as she is run ragged, coasting along the conveyor belt of the baggage claim with the rest of the damaged, overly jostled goods.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Charli XCX Creates Her Own Version of CSS’ “City Grrrl” With “In The City”

    Charli XCX Creates Her Own Version of CSS’ “City Grrrl” With “In The City”

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    In 2011, CSS released their third album, La Liberación. Still finding it difficult to recreate the “virality” of 2005’s “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex,” CSS didn’t make it easier for themselves to do it again with this record. After all, they chose to release just one official single from: “Hits Me Like A Rock” featuring Bobby Gillespie. And yet, after the video—filled with what would now be called “TikTok dancing”—came out, CSS released another visual accompaniment for a song from La Liberación called “City Grrrl” featuring SSION. In the same way that Charli XCX’s new single, “In The City,” pays homage to how a sprawling metropolis lends the kind of anonymity necessary to feel totally free, CSS’ “City Grrrl” took it one step further by speaking to how a city (specifically, a city like New York), after enough time spent there, can make you so numb that “nothing hurts.” 

    Many see this as an advantage, while others posit that the idea of eventually losing all sense of humanity as a result of living in a city (again, mainly New York) simply isn’t worth it. However, for the oppressed and repressed collection of misfits that tends to (or once tended to) gravitate toward those “bright lights,” pain has been the norm in some way for their entire lives, so feeling nothing sounds pretty good in contrast. The thing is, New York is so chock full of normies now thanks to how much money it takes to live there. It’s hardly a place where “being different” is easier to conceal anymore. Not among the Rag & Bone-wearing ilk. Or even the Uniqlo types. For homogeneity has become so unavoidable in society that it’s seeped into the city landscape. A milieu that people were (and still are) so convinced stood out as a bastion of uniqueness. Though, from the get-go, cities were designed to have their own “inverse” homogeneity to the suburban alternatives that are often mocked and ridiculed by city dwellers who presume their lifestyle is inherently better. Particularly those, like Charli XCX, who grew up in such environments, frequenting the clubs and raves of London and its outer reaches as she made a name for herself (beyond just making the user name of Charli XCX on MSN Messenger). 

    In the early days of her recording career, Charli’s lyrics and tone possessed echoes of fellow Brits Lily Allen and Kate Nash, particularly on a song titled “Art Bitch” (side note: CSS also has a song called the same on their debut album). A nod to the sort of girl who would inevitably flee to the city to turn her art into financial gold (because that’s what art is all about now, right?). So it is that Charli sings, “You use a needle and a thread to sew up your dreams/Of going to France or New York or wherever it is/You’re gonna get there one day.” This is the same archetype CSS’ lead singer, Lovefoxxx, embodies in the video for “City Grrrl.” In fact, the premise for it comes off like a combination of Madonna blowing into New York for the first time meets her eponymous character in Desperately Seeking Susan riding back into town from Atlantic City. Lovefoxxx starts the video in a similar fashion, opening on a Coach USA bus with the destination “NEW YORK” emblazoned on the sign above the windshield. From there, Lovefoxxx pulls another Susan maneuver by proceeding to conduct her hygiene affairs in the public bathroom of the bus station, dyeing her hair pink with Manic Panic and changing her ensemble to reflect her inner “punk rock” edge on the outside. Now that she feels liberated enough in the city to do so. 

    The idea that you can be whoever you want to be, finally see yourself as you always dreamed you could be, is also the crux of Charli’s “In The City.” Which additionally offers a requisite gay feature (like “City Grrl” with SSION) via Sam Smith. Because what would any song showing love for the big city be without mentioning or alluding to the gays that populate it? In “City Grrrl,” Lovefoxxx calls it out directly by singing, “When I was a little girl/I wanted to be a citizen of the world/Being busy with my job and my gay friends/Laughing and drinking with my one-night stands.” For Charli, having Smith on the song to lend his vocals to a verse about meeting an accepting lover seems to be sufficient, with Smith declaring, “I knew the night that I met you/Underneath the New York City lights/Baby, no matter what I do/There’s an angel standin’ by my side.” Though one is surely likelier to find a devil at their side “in the city” instead. Especially during the less sanitized times of 2011, when “City Grrrl” came out. 

    In fact, it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that Charli’s city ode has a sound very similar to another 2011 track: Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” It’s got that same EDM infusion—one that also harkens back to Charli’s earlier musical sound before it veered more sharply into pop. This is thanks to co-production by Charli herself, A. G. Cook, George Daniel (a.k.a. the drummer for The 1975 and Charli’s boyfriend), ILYA and Omer Fedi. And, just as “We Found Love” was described, “In The City” is also “the rare song that manages to be sad and joyous all at once.” To that end, “In The City” transports the listener back to the early 2010s of Rihanna’s pre-Fenty heyday. Charli even invokes use of the word “diamonds” by saying, “All the lights are diamonds in the sky,” as though to deliberately remind us of Rihanna belting out, “We’re like diamonds in the sky.” And why not conjure up this not-so-distant period by mimicking its distinct sonic trends? After all, it was a simpler time not just in the twenty-first century, but in New York as well. Arguably the last blip in its history before every corner was taken over by a corporate entity. 

    With “In The City,” Charli appears to be part of the massive cabal that keeps perpetuating the myth that this is how New York still is. Even if its generic title can also be applied to other megalopolises like London, Istanbul, Tokyo and Los Angeles. But, of course, with Smith directly name-checking New York, it’s clear that’s the town they want people to associate the song with. Regardless of it no longer being the place where one can assure, “I found what I was lookin’ for.” Unless what you’re looking for happens to be a ramped-up obsession with money, status and a whole slew of other things that have nothing to do with being the kind of “art bitch” Charli once talked about or that Lovefoxxx once portrayed as a “City Grrrl” of yore. Where saying, “Don’t live your life, girl/Unless it’s just like a movie” has now become, “Live your life like any little banality set against a basic urban backdrop could go viral on TikTok.”

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive” Is Her Most Anti-Environmental Music Video Yet

    Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive” Is Her Most Anti-Environmental Music Video Yet

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    Becoming something of a “soundtrack queen” (to rival Lana Del Rey), the chart success of “Speed Drive” from Barbie: The Album has prompted Charli XCX to make a music video for it. And, although Charli has had her fair share of anti-environmental music videos (see also: “2099”), “Speed Drive” might be her most no-fucks-given-about-Gaia one yet. Particularly at a time when any signs of flagrant abuse of Mother Earth have become more political than ever before. Nonetheless, what can anybody really expect from a song that, like Olivia Rodrigo’s “bad idea right?,” favors a bratty 00s-era feel to it? The 00s being one of the best times to exist for anyone who loved a gas-guzzling vehicle (whether Hummers or Bentleys).

    And, talking of the 00s, no one was queen of the “sweet ride” like Regina George (Rachel McAdams) in Mean Girls. With her 2002 Lexus SC 430, Regina couldn’t have given less of a fuck about emitting fossil fuels (ergo, popular girls should be deemed losers for promoting rampant fossil fuel usage). Same as Barbie wouldn’t (and doesn’t) in her pink Corvette. The very one we see being driven by Devon Lee Carlson (who also gets name-checked in the song) as the video, co-directed by XCX and Ramez Silyan, opens on her and Charli speeding down the backroads overlooked by Los Angeles’ Fourth Street Bridge. 

    If the overall aesthetic seems familiar, complete with “industrial L.A. backdrop,” it’s because Charli has managed to continue her Crash era from early 2022 into the present. After all, as she’s admitted herself, “I’ve always really liked singing about cars. For me, there is this intrinsic link between driving and music and feeling like you’re a star when you’re in a car.” But, for as “brightly burning” as one might feel in that “star-y” moment they get from what Missy Elliott would describe as, “Top down, loud sound/See my peeps,” it’s not going to be even half as brightly burning as this Earth amid going up into flames thanks to unremitting CO2 emissions. Which makes one not merely “wonder” (so much as despise) why Charli (and many pop stars/other types of famous people) are so content to keep plugging the notion of how driving is “freedom” when, in fact, it will be the death of everyone. And while, sure, some say death is the ultimate liberation, there are others still who would prefer to last as long as possible without the effects of air pollution/climate change taking years off their lives. This being precisely what continued car usage (and the glamorization of car usage) will do. 

    XCX might have talked about the “intrinsic link” between driving and music, but she glossed right past the intrinsic link between driving and capitalism. As Metric says in the chorus of “Handshakes,” “Buy this car to drive to work/Drive to work to pay for this car.” The vicious cycle that arises when a shoddy economic system creates a need that isn’t actually a need, but a frivolous, detrimental want caused by a made-up life purpose (i.e., working a job you hate [or at least resent] so as to be paid). And yet, because of the expert conditioning we’re all given from day one thanks to advertising and, correlatively, the celebrity-industrial complex, we tell ourselves that selfish desires are needs. Including the desire to superfluously drive around in our cars doing donuts and slamming the brakes arbitrarily after stepping on the gas and letting out another massive, senseless CO2 fart into the world. Which is what both Carlson and Charli seem to enjoy doing with their status as: rich and influential. 

    Before we can get the full, uninterrupted effect of Charli letting her gasses loose, she steps out of the front seat in a white onesie (that seems the best word for it) complemented by a pink and white feather boa. As she starts to get into her “I’m a hot girl, pop girl, rich girl/I’m a bitch girl” type of dance, the world of the music video is shattered by the meta sound of her “Vroom Vroom” ringtone. Indeed, this entire portion is supposed to be meta, what with Sam Smith also being present on Barbie: The Album. Answering her oh so specifically zoomed in on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, the screen is opened to reveal Smith demanding, “Did you have a chance to listen to the new mix, babe? What’d you think?” She tells Smith, “I’m actually on the set of a music video right now.” Smith replies, “Okay, okay, sorry. I just, we gotta submit it so we can get it out.” Promising to call them afterward, she snaps the phone closed and cuts right back to the gear shift of the pink Corvette as Carlson hits the gas, showing us the “thrill” of the needle on the odometer rising while she does donuts around a dancing Charli. This in between close-ups on the car’s version of fuzzy dice hanging on the rearview mirror: an Android mini collectible. Because what is this video if not an aggrandizement of capitalistic synergy (mostly pertaining to Samsung)?

    While XCX happily mugs for the camera, Carlson’s driving skills cause a huge blast of smoke to trail behind her in the Corvette’s wake. This is appropriately timed to coincide with XCX cockily singing, “Got the top down, tires on fire (on fire).” Followed by a classic “I’m an asshole but there’s nothing wrong with that” defense as Charli flexes, “Who are you? I’m livin’ my life/See you lookin’ with that side eye/Wow, you’re so jealous ’cause I’m one of a kind/What you think about me, I don’t care.” Really? Even if one tends to think Charli is a one-woman promotion parade for using and touting all manner of vehicles that contribute to our collective quietus? It seems like something one should care about, reputation-wise. But, as she’s made clear, she’s too “hot, ridin’ through the streets” and “on a different frequency”—at least from the environmentally-minded who would prefer to stop seeing the deification (and sexualization, à la J. G. Ballard’s Crash) of cars. Those metal monsters who will spell human extinction if AI doesn’t first. 

    To add insult to injury, rubber tires are set ablaze for the purpose of the video, emitting more smoke into the air so that the aerosols can contribute to affecting climate change as well. Even before this moment, it was long ago apparent that Charli is strictly among the camp that views environmental-friendliness not only as a hindrance to “economic growth,” but also, evidently, to her “art.” And as the credits to the video show the “tag” of Charli standing in the middle of the road while a freight train slowly crawls past her and a flaming wheel rolls by, to boot, she confirms that no one actually gives a shit about mitigating environmental damage as much as possible, whenever possible. Not when it makes them look so “hot” to do otherwise. Alas, everyone will be Satan-level hot on a more literal level soon enough. 

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    Genna Rivieccio

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