Charli XCX on her iconic Auckland show, collaboration, and her 'most personal album'

Charli XCX: "The LGBTQ+ community has encouraged me to be myself and not care what other people think." Photo / Marcus Cooper

Charli XCX'S new album, Charli, features an extraordinary list of collaborators. She spoke to George Fenwick about her hard-partying fans and how she pulled together her dream team.

TIMEOUT: Thinking back to your legendary sideshow after Taylor Swift's concert last year — you must have had to rush from Mt Smart Stadium to K Rd for that after an already tiring show. It's amazing you can offer that to your fans, but is there a point where you have to stop and pull back and say, "That's enough from me"?

CHARLI XCX: Yeah, sometimes, but sometimes I'm just really into it. Sometimes I want to go super-hard, I like that energy, I like moving fast and living full-throttle. Then other times I just do nothing for a while. I'm kind of an all-or-nothing person.

Everything I've heard from that night, it sounds like the energy was incredible. What's that feeling like, when you're there with fans who are really into what you're doing?

It's great. Performing is amazing, no matter who you're performing to and it's always very intense when it's my fans, because they go really hard. They like to party and we share the same energy, it's a very hyped, sweaty, club-type of environment. It's really cool.

You're hugely popular with the queer community — I think the reason so many queer people love your music is that you're authentic and you operate in your own space, and I think that's something that when you're queer, you aspire to that.

Thank you. It's amazing to hear that I'm inspiring because I actually feel exactly the same way about many of my fans. I feel like the LGBTQ community has inspired me in many ways to embrace parts of my personality, which maybe I am afraid or have been in the past afraid, wouldn't be accepted. I feel like they've encouraged me to be myself and not care what other people think and I'm very grateful for that.

I'm obsessed with all the collaborators on Charli — do you have the parts written for people in mind, or is it about jumping into the studio and just seeing what happens?

I definitely don't write for the other artists, it's collaboration in some cases but all of the people on the album are really prolific writers and most people wrote their parts themselves, or we wrote it together in the studio. Sometimes it would be in the room, like with Clairo. With Haim, we got together; with Lizzo, at my studio; and with someone like Kim Petras or Christine and the Queens, and Troye Sivan as well, they sent me stuff over the internet. But there's always a really elongated dialogue and we finesse things and we discuss things. But generally the reason I like to collaborate with people is because I feel like they can bring themselves to the songs. I'm never wanting to interfere too much — I want people to be comfortable and do their thing on the song.

Why was it important for you to have this album carry your name?

I know this sounds cliched, but it's definitely my most personal album and so I think I really wanted it to just be simple. I wanted it to be me, the human being, not me the artist. Just very simple; Charli is the name that everybody uses for me and so I wanted to call it that.

"I wanted it to be me, the human being, not me the artist." Photo / Marcus Cooper

Is there pressure within the industry to make sure you measure your songs against charting and numbers? Does that affect the creative process?

I don't care about that. I don't base my music on that, I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in pop music and I'm interested in things that I like. If some of those things are on the radio, that's amazing. I'm not anti-music on the radio, I just personally don't care if mine ends up there. I just want to make the music that I love and if it ends up on the radio that's amazing but if it doesn't, that's fine, it doesn't really bother me.

I'm so excited that Clairo and Yaeji are on the same track, that's incredible. What was it about those two artists together that excited you?

I knew both of them separately and I liked both of their work and I just thought that their styles together would work. I approached both of them and asked, "Would you be into it?" And they said yes. I think they both have this kind of ethereal, relaxed, effortlessly cool vibe in the music that they make, so I wanted to try and see if we could figure out something together. I think what we've done is great.

LOWDOWN:
Who: Charli XCX
What: New album Charli; performing at Laneway Festival 2020
When: Album out now; Laneway tickets on sale today