About Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison, known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery by a promoter who invited her to perform at warehouse raves. In 2010, she signed a recording contract with Asylum Records, releasing a series of singles and mixtapes throughout 2011 and 2012.
In 2012, Charli XCX rose to prominence collaborating with Swedish duo Icona Pop (Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt) on "I Love It", which became an international success. Her debut studio album, True Romance (2013), was released to positive reception but failed to meet commercial expectations. In 2014, she contributed the hook and bridge to "Fancy" by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, which finished the year as one of the best-selling singles worldwide and was nominated for two Grammy Awards. The same year, Charli XCX released "Boom Clap", which became her first solo top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100. Her second studio album, the punk-influenced Sucker (2014) was released at the end of the year, and spawned the successful singles "Break the Rules" and "Doing It".
In 2015, Charli XCX began working alongside producers associated with the UK collective PC Music, developing a more experimental sound and image. While working on her third album, she released the Vroom Vroom EP (2016) and the mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 (both 2017), as well as a series of singles including the BPI-certified "After the Afterparty", "Boys", and "1999". Her third and fourth studio albums, Charli (2019) and How I'm Feeling Now (2020), received widespread acclaim. Her fifth studio album, Crash (2022), became her biggest commercial success to date. In 2023, she released the single "Speed Drive" as part of Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of Barbie. In 2024, Charli XCX released her sixth studio album Brat, to critical acclaim.
In addition to her solo work, Charli XCX has co-written songs for other artists, including Iggy Azalea's "Beg for It" (2014), Selena Gomez's "Same Old Love" (2015), Blondie's (Debbie Harry) "Tonight" (2017), the Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello collaboration "Señorita" (2019), and the Sigala and Rita Ora collaboration "You for Me" (2021). She was awarded the ASCAP Global Impact Award in 2024 in recognition of her contributions to pop music.
In an interview with The Face in June 2024, Charli revealed that her song "Mean Girls" on her 2024 album "BRAT" was about her “fascination with mean girls”, inspired in part by Dasha Nekrasova and by Charli’s own interest in why “succubus-looking, dead-eyed women” like herself and her friend Gabriette Bechtel are often passed off as being mean.
Charli XCX is of Gujarati Indian and Scottish descent. As of June 2024, she has amassed 5 million Instagram followers.
