In times past, all pop stars had to do was be iconic. Now they need to be iconic and available, permanently down from on high to field social media comments – less superstar, more superstore suggestion box.
Charlotte Aitchison has found that this isn’t a particularly comfortable arrangement. She has visited the mainstream on a few occasions, writing and featuring on huge hits including Icona Pop’s I Love It and Iggy Azalea’s Fancy, as well as co-writing Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s worldwide number one, Señorita. But she’s adored intensely by a fanbase that wants her to stay a wide step to the left of conventional pop, experimenting with edgier electronic sounds, and doesn’t mind telling her when she leaves their preferred lane.
During lockdown, she recorded and released How I’m Feeling Now, involving fans in every step of the six week process by sharing demos and ideas on Zoom calls and on social media. That album is significantly stranger sounding than this one, and some of those who feel heavily invested in her career haven’t been shy about broadcasting their disappointment. Last month she wrote on Twitter: “I have been feeling like I can’t do anything right at the moment… I’ve noticed lately that a few people seem quite angry at me.”
Crash is the last album of a major label record deal that the 29-year-old signed when she was 16. She has billed it as one final throw of the dice for big pop hits, saying: “It feels like Charli ultra popstar, all-out, sell your soul,” but also claimed that it’s part of a sneaky plan “to bring more avant garde music to the mainstream” in the future.
It’s certainly highly accessible to potential new enthusiasts, nodding to pre-existing classic pop in multiple places. Good Ones has some of the dark synth menace of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) while the bright riff of New Shapes has a hint of Jump by Van Halen. Elsewhere it’s even more blatant: Beg for You is almost but not quite a cover of September’s 2008 dance hit Cry for You, and Used to Know Me is dominated by a sample of the Robin S house classic Show Me Love.
The style is big on catchiness but dilutes much of her spiky personality. And if she’s going to sound more like everyone else, it’s easy to side with the less adoring side of her following and wonder what the point is.
