Jump to content
Fluorine

Charli XCX

Recommended Posts

Even though I wanted to think that gothli was the "real Charli", I can totally see where she's coming from saying it was her "trying to be cool". I get the feeling the whole aesthetic was partly a marketing thing. Charli clearly isn't actually "goth" in any way, it was just a style that got her a unique identity in the pop market and with the whole tumblr crowd.

 

I believe Charli when she talks about how she would've rather made this punk pop type album, but I think a lot of her more creative ideas were probably shut down by her label.

 

As much as I want to think of Charli as an independent artist who does whatever she wants, we have to keep in mind that she's signed to a major record label who expects her music to sell. And she's kind of in a pit... After Break the Rules flopped they should've realized that the pop-rock thing wasn't really selling.. And getting Rita Ora for Doing It didn't make any sense because Rita Ora doesn't even have a name for herself. Black Widow did well because Iggy was on it, not Rita.

 

Sorry, this has kind of turned into a mini rant/analysis of the sinking ship that is Sucker (as far as commercial success goes) inspired by a thread I saw on ATRL asking why Charli isn't taking off or being talked about even though she's getting nonstop promo and seemingly being forced down the public's throat.

 

Besides the major errors in singles/marketing (Famous would've done 10x better if they would've just made it a video of her at a house party looking sexy and breaking shit, and I would've enjoyed it more) I think the other reason it's not quite happening for Charli beyond features and a niche fanbase is that she doesn't really try to be relatable. She is who she is and I like her personality, but she doesn't come off as super friendly, charismatic, or inspiring like the big pop girls. 

 

And her claims that she's changing pop music do come off as pretentious, because there's nothing very original about most of Sucker so far...

 

I mean, the general public's introductions to her were Fancy and Boom Clap... And then she tried to make Break the Rules happen. Those 3 songs are so different, I'm sure the general public has no idea what her identity is. She doesn't seem to really have one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

if her new direction is exactly like the SOPHIE stuff i will be riding this train so hard!!!   :cumming2:

While I enjoy the SOPHIE stuff, Charli is an amazingly talented songwriter, True Romance had some of the best writing I'd seen in awhile (minus CA and So Far Away) and I wish she'd get back to at least showcasing her real witting skills, not her "written in 30 minutes" hit technique that seems to yield one hit for every five horrific songs 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think Charli's lack of success also has a lot to do with her alienating her fan base. Many of the hardcore fans view her as "selling out" with Sucker and are therefore less supportive of her now. Sure, she did gain a lot more fans with Boom Clap, but these were hardly hardcore fans + were a lot more "temporary" (if that makes sense); they would be more willing to illegally download her tracks than spend the $$$ to support her.

 

Take Marina for example - she "sold out" with Electra Heart and lost a few fans, but a large majority of hardcore fans stayed and supported her. FROOT had relatively NO public promo yet it still managed to hit #1 on its first day and stayed within the top 10 (or was it 20?) by the end of the week; this was all down to the amount of hardcore fans that bought the album. Marina didn't change herself (rather, she became someone else - Electra) and imo, this is why a lot of her hardcore fans still stan for her. Charli completely reinvented herself and lost a lot of her "permanent" fans as a result.


OAjeWdG.jpg?1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...