Charli XCX

Charli XCX is a singer, songwriter, and producer born Charlotte Emma Aitchison in 1992 in Cambridge, England. One of the most influential figures in experimental pop and hyperpop, she has built a career balancing mainstream hitmaking with avant-garde production and a fierce independence that has consistently pushed the sonic boundaries of commercial music. Having begun performing at illegal warehouse raves in London as a teenager and writing songs professionally from 16, she scored early songwriting credits on Icona Pop's 'I Love It' and her own Iggy Azalea collaboration 'Fancy,' both global hits in 2013. Yet her own output consistently subverted pop convention: debut album *True Romance* (2013) was a neon-tinged, lo-fi indie pop record far removed from radio expectations. *Sucker* (2014) leaned into bubblegum punk energy, and *Number 1 Angel* and *Pop 2* (both 2017) — released as free mixtapes — were radical departures, embracing the maximalist, dissonant production of 100 gecs collaborators Sophie, A.G. Cook, and the wider PC Music universe. These records established Charli as a pioneering figure in what would later be termed hyperpop. *Charli* (2019) and *How I'm Feeling Now* (2020) — the latter made entirely during Covid lockdown with fan input via Instagram — continued this experimental trajectory. *CRASH* (2022) was a deliberate mainstream pivot to 1980s-inspired pop with commercial ambitions, yielding her first UK number one. *BRAT* (2024) became a cultural phenomenon — its lo-fi, sardonic, hedonistic tone capturing a specific mood of millennial/Gen-Z ambivalence that spawned a viral aesthetic trend and the phrase 'brat summer.' The album was one of the most discussed records of the year and marked Charli's complete arrival as a defining pop voice of her era.