Part of the editorial team evaluates ‘Card Declined’ by Charli xcx. Vote in the poll what you think of their new album, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’.
«All this suffering makes Charli xcx think that she is a better artist. In his new album ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ he changes the club-pop shine of ‘brat’ for a language based on guitar distortion and punk immediacy, but maintains the confessional lyrics of the previous album and its deep dissatisfaction.
Few themes better represent the concept of ‘Card Declined’. The image is already striking: Charli is preparing to pay for a series of very, very expensive material objects, from a bag to a Mah Jong sofa, but no compulsive purchase fills the void, an endless hole.
In ‘Card Declined’, material goods are no longer enough to “buy a smile.” This conflict collapses between raw and distorted chords, delicious grunge textures and the punctual use of autotune in the final section, while the composition develops anesthetized and sad, because the card has lost all its luster and its ability to bring happiness.
The song, with a touch I don’t know if it’s Porches, Pavement or the rawest and rockiest Scout Niblett, eludes any conventional pop structure and resorts to a hypnotic and captivating repetition, symbolizing a life that remains trapped in an infinite loop of suffering. The ending includes one of the B sides, the only decision that doesn’t quite fit. Jordi Bardaji
«It is a cliché that artists release their most rocking and extreme album after their greatest commercial success, as a reaction. Nirvana went for a harsher sound on ‘In Utero’. REM filled ‘Monster’ with distortion. Cranberries swapped Ireland for the US on ‘To the Faithful Departed’. All these albums have in common adding electric guitars, new pedals and also questioning the benefits of fame after an absolutely imperial era (‘Nevermind’, ‘Automatic for the People’, ‘No Need to Argue’).
Charli
‘Rock Music’ seemed to lead us into a biting, surprising album full of glitches and twists, parodic like its video clip. ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ does not follow that line or any line in particular. At one point he delivers the most commercial video of his entire career (‘Wink Wink’) and at one point he delivers a nothing (‘Yeah’). In ‘Card Declined’ he turns off the electricity again to make an absurd list of expenses that in the end he cannot pay. The guitar and its 90s pedals are not enough to lift the song, nor is its My Bloody Valentine turn. As if it weren’t boring enough, at the end he includes a piece of a B-side. As a shot in the foot it would be priceless… if we didn’t know that these eras tend not to end well. Sebas E. Alonso.
Charging …