Charli xcx has acknowledged in an interview with Rolling Stone that, mentally, she is “worse than ever.” The author of ‘Brat’ managed to turn this album into a pop phenomenon and also, by far, her best-selling album, but the online debate around her music continues to affect her greatly. He assures that “his emotions are very volatile right now.” As a solution, he states that he has distanced himself from social networks because they cause him “anxiety so strong that it affects my body.”
Part of this response has been generated by the debate surrounding his controversial statement: “the dance floor is dead.” Although from the beginning it was evident that Charli was talking about her own career, many expanded the interpretation to a global diagnosis of current music. This even involved Madonna, who is preparing her return to the dance floor and seemed to leave her a hint on social networks.
Charli clarifies in Rolling Stone that the phrase was referring to ‘Brat’, and closes the debate: “That lyric has a lot to do with my relationship with ‘Brat’. My husband George Daniel runs a dance music label. There have been a huge amount of incredible dance/electronic music albums coming out lately, whether it’s Slayyyter, Underscores or PinkPantheress. Dance music is in an incredible moment.”
In the interview, Charli explains the “reactionary” logic that unites all of her albums, which are different from each other, and talks about more banal topics such as her favorite movies or the albums from her own catalog that she continues to listen to. However, he displays a distant attitude, stating that he is “not interested” in explaining the meaning behind his songs or refusing to explain why he does not believe in ghosts. Tellingly, Charli says she’s probably going to stop doing long-form interviews for a while: “This will probably be my last long-form interview with a journalist for a while. “You got in by the skin of your teeth.”
Charli, on the other hand, insists that ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ is not a rock album, despite containing rock guitars, having been released with a song called ‘Rock Music’ and including a rock icon, John Cale, on its cover. His explanation is that he has made a Charli xcx album, which is reminiscent of when Beyoncé said that ‘Cowboy Carter’ was not a country album, but a Beyoncé album.
The reaction to Charli xcx’s new material is divisive, although Rolling Stone doesn’t ask her exactly about that, opting for a friendly and sometimes accommodating tone. ‘Rock Music’ and ‘SS26’ have quite limited streams – although not bad – and are not generating a real impact on the charts, not even in the United Kingdom, where none of the songs are present in the top 100 singles, despite their obvious quality and risk. In Spotify’s global top 200, the only Charli present has the last name Puth. Although we must remember the context: the singles from ‘Brat’ also did not achieve great numbers on the charts before the album’s release and then they rocked it.
Charli, as if anticipating negative reactions, has recently warned on social networks that it is very possible that many of her fans do not like her new album.
