Charli XCX

Charli XCX (born August 2, 1992, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom) is a British singer and songwriter who was known to fans for her experimental electro-pop music for more than a decade when she found mainstream success with the release of her sixth album, Brat, in 2024. Critics have often praised her music for challenging boundaries while maintaining popular appeal.

Early life and music

Charli XCX was born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, the only child of Shameera Aitchison, a nurse and flight attendant who was born to an Indian family in Uganda, and Jon Aitchison, a Scottish entrepreneur. At age 14, Charlotte Aitchison convinced her parents to loan her money to record her first album. In 2008 she shared some music from that recording to Myspace, which gained her invitations to perform at warehouse raves and parties in London, an endeavor her parents supported. At this time, Aitchison started using the stage name Charli XCX. She later told Rolling Stone that “people have speculated that [the XCX] means ‘Kiss Kiss,’ but I really just chose the name because I thought it looked cool and sounded catchy.” In 2010 she was signed by Asylum Records, a subsidiary of the Atlantic label, and began working on her debut album.

First albums and success with “I Love It”

While recording, Charli XCX scrapped the song “I Love It,” feeling that it was not the sound she wanted at the time. The song was then recorded by the Swedish duo Icona Pop, who maintained Charli XCX’s vocals. A sleeper hit, the single was released in 2012 but entered the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2013. Charli XCX’s debut record, True Romance, was released in 2013 to good reviews. The next year she collaborated with Australian rapper and songwriter Iggy Azalea on the single “Fancy,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for two Grammys. Charli XCX also provided the song “Boom Clap” to The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack. Her next album, Sucker (2014), was her first top 40 album, landing at number 15 on the U.K. Official Albums list. 

Vroom Vroom, Barbie soundtrack, and other recordings from the late 2010s and early 2020s

Charli XCX took a more experimental approach to her 2016 EP Vroom Vroom, collaborating with DJ, producer, and singer Sophie. She also set up her own avant-garde pop label, Vroom Vroom Recordings, that year. She followed up with the 2017 mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 and the albums Charli (2019), How I’m Feeling Now (2020), and Crash (2022). Over the years she has collaborated with many artists, including Troye Sivan, A.G. Cook, and Lorde. In 2023 mainstream listeners got a feel for her sound when the single “Speed Drive” was featured in a pivotal chase scene during the Barbie movie and on its soundtrack.

Brat

Brat debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and became Charli XCX’s highest-selling album. When describing the recording, Charli XCX told Resident Advisor, the rave culture website, “[Brat is] very confrontational and aggressive, and the lyrics are sort of life texts that I would send to my friends. I see it as being quite brutalist.” Social media immediately picked up on the album’s messy and rebellious vibe, creating “brat summer” memes and creating a dance routine to the single “Apple.” The trends swelled later that summer when U.S. Vice Pres. Kamala Harris replaced U.S. Pres. Joe Biden as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and Charli XCX posted “Kamala IS brat” on the social media platform X. Harris’s campaign immediately seized on the endorsement and started using the lime green of the album for its marketing.