The nom de pop of Charlotte Aitchison, Charli XCX mixes influences and inspirations as diverse as the Spice Girls, Kate Bush, Lil Wayne, Quentin Tarantino, and Twin Peaks into moody yet catchy pop. She began making music at an early age while growing up in Hertfordshire, England, and released a pair of singles, 2008's "Emelline/Art Bitch" and "!Franchesckaar!," while still in her teens. She also recorded her first album that year, which she sold at concerts although it never saw an official release. Three years later she returned with a slew of new material, including the singles "Stay Away" and "Nuclear Seasons"; the mixtapes Super Girls, Super Love and I Like Boys Who Cry, which respectively gathered the female and male artists who shaped her music; and cameos on Starkey's "Lost in Space" and Alex Metric's "End of the World." Her first original mixtape, Heartbreaks and Earthquakes, arrived in May 2012 and was followed by her U.S. debut EP, You're the One, and another mixtape, Super Ultra. She scored another hit that year when she appeared on the Icona Pop single "I Love It," which she co-wrote. Early in 2013, the single "You (Ha Ha Ha)" arrived shortly before Charli XCX's full-length debut, True Romance, dropped that April. Though the album earned critical acclaim, Aitchison was already at work on her third full-length later that year, working with collaborators as diverse as Weezer, Stargate, and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and issuing the single "Superlove" in December. However, her big break came the following year, when she collaborated with Iggy Azalea on the single "Fancy." Released in February 2014, the song became both artists' first number one on Billboard's Hot 100 that May (Aitchison also co-wrote "Beg for It," which appeared on Azalea's Reclassified and featured Danish singer/songwriter MØ). That month, XCX released another single, "Boom Clap," which introduced a more streamlined, accessible sound. Featured on the soundtrack to the film adaptation of the young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars, it charted in the Top Ten in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, becoming her biggest solo hit to date. Around that time, she announced her third album, Sucker. Released that December, it was preceded by another single, "Break the Rules," and a gig opening for Katy Perry on the European leg of her Prism tour.
Heather Phares
AllMusic.com
