I’m not particularly into current dance pop but I’ve become quite fond of Charli XCX.
I first took notice when Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” was constantly on the radio last year. I didn’t love the song but I kinda liked it. Particularly I liked the vocal on the hook- nothing really noteworthy in terms of melody but it was delivered with real personality in a way that it always really grabbed me and I found it enjoyable.
When I found out the hook was actually being sung by a guest artist and not Azalea herself, I tucked Charli XCX’s name into the files in the back of my mind. Then when Charli XCX’s single “Boom Clap” got a lot of airplay last fall, I recognized her as “Oh, yeah, she’s the singer I liked on the hook on ‘Fancy’.” About two months ago, walking through Target, I saw her album Sucker prominently displayed with a nicely discounted sale price and I picked it up on a whim. I figured I really don’t have any other current music from that genre, I’d probably like to have one album that I could play when I felt in the mood.
I was surprised to find that I actually really really like the album a lot. I immediately recognized two other songs that had gotten a lot of airplay and the entire album plays great from start to finish without one dud. My two least favorite songs on the album I wouldn’t even say that I dislike, they’re just kind of “meh”. Aside from two “meh” songs, everything else on the album is a pop gem.
It’s definitely beats-driven like most of modern dance-pop but every song has a decent melody that your ear can grab hold of and her vocals have a lot of personality. She’s got that perfectly commercial just-this-side-of-safe “bad girl” attitude and a fun loving sense of humor. Her lyrics aren’t particularly artful, but they’re not cookie-cutter either- you get the sense that you’re hearing her particular voice of self expression.
Above all else, it’s just really fun and catchy the whole way through. I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to the whole album start to finish in the past two months (the CD resides in my car and often just stays in the player). Not only has it not gotten tiresome upon repeat listens, I’m liking it more and more and regularly singing along.
I haven’t checked out her 2013 album yet, but now that I’ve opened YouTube to post links for this Thread maybe I’ll delve a little deeper into her catalog.
I like her - not wild about her but I find her stuff listenable - I first noticed her on the Icona Pop track I Love It (which she wrote) - she has a good voice and writes good pop material.
It doesn’t exactly hurt that she’s well fit, of course.
Modern pop songs tend to really come into form in the studio. As such, producers receive writing credits as a matter of convention. Sometimes all those credited writers actually sit down together and start writing from square one, sometimes the performing artist comes in with a partially written song that gets completed in collaboration, sometimes a song is complete in form from start to finish but the producers’ contribution in terms of hooks and accompaniment merits a writing credit (and the shared writing credit is usually a matter of previously negotiated contractual agreement regardless of what actually happens in the studio).
Certainly there are pop stars that are snatched up by “the machine” because of their malleability and because they’ll do exactly as told and not muck up the works with their own artistic vision, but music fans who prefer rock and/or singer-songwriter genres tend to dismiss all pop performers in this way. Truth is, modern pop is a particularly collaborative genre and it’s a mistake to dismiss all modern pop performers as not making a valuable contribution to their own music.
Charli XCX shares writing credits on every track on both her albums.
As tends to be the case for this genre, the producers are credited among the co-writers (your Patrik Berger on one of the thirteen tracks on her first record and five of the thirteen tracks on her second record).
You’d have to have been in the studio to be able to say how the collaboration actually came together.
Her delivery of the material is wonderful. The voice of the writing is consistent throughout the album regardless of who her credited co-writers are.
So, there really seems to be no reason at all to dismiss her as a songwriter- especially coming from someone who’s post begins with “Never heard of her, but …”
Agree. Her prominent credit on that song that made me think that she must have something going on as a songwriter (not that the song is that great, but it is catchy).
In contrast, the relationship between Lorde and her producer Joel Little seems to be the reverse. After seeing early interviews with both of them, my impression is that it should be: “themes and some lyrics” by Lorde, “everything else” by Joel Little.