Five studio albums, two EPs and four mixtapes into her career, Charli XCX has found her niche as a pop trailblazer who occasionally achieves mainstream success. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, few pop stars in recent memory have traversed career paths as unconventional as Charli XCX’s. At age 30, Charlotte Emma Aitchison has gone from prospective worldwide icon/teen fave who first found stardom as a featured artist to underrated underground artiste who was reinventing pop music – and back. It really is a lot.

To help tell the story of her career, we’ve chosen what we believe are the best 15 Charli XCX songs as a lead performer (no “I Love It”, sorry) – all while explaining the role they played in her career path. If you don’t agree with the below ranking, please direct all your complaints and death threats to my editor. A less violent option is to share your own ranking with us – you do you!

Without further ado, these are the 15 best Charli XCX songs:

15. “Stay Away” (from True Romance)

Back in 2011, Charli XCX’s music career was at a standstill. She had just signed to Asylum Records, a label operating under Warner Bros. that had also recently snatched Cee Lo Green and a little ginger fella called Ed Sheeran. In an attempt to kickstart her career, Asylum flew Charli to L.A., where she would go through many fruitless recording sessions with a wide array of different producers. Only one of them clicked. It was Ariel Rechtshaid, whose most flattering producing credits at the time included bottom-of-the-barrel indie landfill acts such as We Are Scientists and The Blood Arm.

And yet it was that unlikely partnership that turned Charli into the global star she is today. In their first two-hour writing session, Rechtshaid and Charli co-wrote “Stay Away”, which would become one of the highlights of her debut album True Romance. Very much a product of its time, “Stay Away” is a cold, witch-house-influenced pop song with a bizarre half-rapped-half-spoken-word verse that Charli somehow sells with a straight face. Although it failed to make a dent in the charts, the song made the artist a critical darling, with Pitchfork granting it Best New Track status.

14. “Boys” (stand-alone single)

Intended to be the second single from a third studio album that never happened, “Boys” was released to critical acclaim in July 2017. Featuring a less abrasive sound than her last two releases (the SOPHIE-produced Vroom Vroom EP and Number 1 Angel, a mixtape enlisting the help of most PC Music producers), “Boys” is a quirky and charming pop song whose main hook is a Super Mario Bros. sample – which is extremely effective, by the way. With its catchy, meme-ready chorus, “Boys” really should have been a hit, yet it peaked at 31 in the UK Singles Chart and was nowhere to be seen in the US charts. It wouldn’t be particularly surprising if it made a resurgence as some sort of TikTok trend I don’t even want to understand.

13. “Boom Clap” (from Sucker)

First released as the lead song from a soppy teen romance, “Boom Clap” is Charli XCX’s first proper hit on her own. It made the top 10 in both the UK and the USA – an impressive feat for an artist whose previous singles have failed to chart significantly. “Boom Clap” is far from being Charli’s most adventurous moment, but it’s an outstanding pop song in its own right. You could even argue that this is her version of a late-70s butt-rock song: the song-writing is painted-by-numbers anonymous chart pop, but its cranked-up-to-eleven performance is so fun that one can’t help but join the sing-along. Originally offered to Hillary Duff, “Boom Clap” paints a world where Charli XCX hangs out with Max Martin and Mark Ronson instead of SOPHIE and A.G. Cook. It was actually produced by Stefan Gräslund as well as Patrick Berger, whose name is also associated to Robyn‘s “Dancing On My Own.”

12. “Backseat” ft. Carly Rae Jepsen (from Pop 2)

For the opening track of her magnum opus Pop 2, Charli XCX enlisted the help of the only pop star more criminally underrated than her by that point. Fresh off the heels of the critical success of Emotion and Emotion Side B, the perennially starry-eyed Carly Rae Jepsen pops up in this futuristic ballad produced by easyFun and A.G. Cook. Carly’s clear and passionate soprano vocals mark a stark contrast with Charli’s heavily-autotuned voice, adding even more power to a soul-stirring song that riffs off a common pop trope: partying and sex as an imperfect antidote for heart malaise.

11. “ILY2” (from Number 1 Angel)

This is one of the few Charli XCX songs that succeeds in finding a middle point between her two worlds – the big label product who can’t quite make it to the pop star A-list and the visionary pop savant whose wildest experiments are loudly cheered on by fans and critics alike. Produced by Danny L Harle, “ILY2” is an electro-pop banger that sits in the middle of Number 1 Angel, Charli’s third mixtape. “ILY2” anticipates the late-2010s/early-2020s hyper-pop trend of appropriating corny rock trope – see the Scorpions-like guitar lick plus solo in the bridge, or the chugging power chords that flesh out the chorus further than what its minimalistic backbone could possibly do. Aided by Harle’s pristine production (it’s impossible not to be in awe of that playful synth line in the pre-chorus), this could have been a massive hit single if marketed properly.

10. “Lipgloss” ft. CupcakKe (from Number 1 Angel)

Featuring one of the raunchiest artists to ever come close to a mic in pop history, “Lipgloss” is Charli XCX at her hyper-pop best: singing about wet genitals over a harsh electronic base courtesy of SOPHIE and A.G. Cook. It also features one of the CupcakKE-est CupcakKe lyrics ever: “More flavour than Flavor Flav / My pussy is very brave.” The whole thing is a lot of fun, but it’s also much more than that – a blueprint for later albums, its instrumental bears witness to Charli’s turn to an edgier and more experimental production style.

9. “Next Level Charli” (from Charli)

The received wisdom around Charli XCX is that her mixtapes contain most of her best work while her big-label studio records are always a bit of let-down. There’s definitely some truth to that. Charli’s third-studio album was released in September 2019 under the extremely blunt title Charli – perhaps a much-expected turn to sincerity after having made the most out of the glossy veneer of her recent mixtapes? Well, not quite. Charli isn’t a bad record by any means, but it feels weirdly impersonal and voiceless – and it definitely doesn’t come close to the potential sketched out on Pop 2 and Vroom Vroom.

That being said, there are a handful of tracks on the album that rank among her best work. One of them is the first track of the record, “Next Level Charli” – one of the few songs on Charli written only by Charli and frequent producer A.G. Cook. With an ominous synth acting as an initial bang, this is more of an introduction than a proper, fully fleshed-out song. Slightly OTT on the self-referencing department but incredibly effective as a melody, “Next Level Charli” is basically Charli XCX emulating the Paul McCartney of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” or “Magical Mystery Tour”. Its only verse is repeated almost a dozen times, and yet the song feels like it should be at least twice as long. How is it possible? Well, it’s Charli baby.

8. “Forever” (from How I’m Feeling Now)

Marketed as a studio album in spite of its DIY nature, Charli XCX’s fourth LP how I’m feeling now will go down in history as the first pandemic record by a big-ticket pop artist. Charli wrote, recorded and released the entire album in less than two months – a heavy contrast with the three-year rollout of a major label release. And yet there might be an argument for it as the definitive Charli XCX release. how I’m feeling now is a straight-to-the-bone, no-filler-all-killer album with Charli reining the overindulgences that had hampered some of her previous work.

Arguably her most heartfelt song to date, “Forever” is a mature love letter to a partner, a declaration of eternal love that goes beyond the natural ebbs and flow of a relationship. Its earnest lyricism and glitchy production earned it a few comparisons with fellow PC Music member Hannah Diamond – and not without reason. Like Diamond’s best songs, “Forever” is a simple, infectious song whose main objective is to reignite feelings that you thought you’d kept buried in adolescence.

7. “Lightning” (from Crash)

Charli XCX had to wait more than ten years to get a number one album in the UK. Crash, her fifth studio album and last one under her record contract with Atlantic Records, sees the British singer ditch her art-house credentials for a more straightforward dance-pop approach. For the most part, the experiment doesn’t pay off. Crash is fine, but not a lot more than that. It’s a weirdly anonymous record – one that could’ve been made by any pop star with the budget to enlist a dozen of different producers and thirty different writers. It’s not an unpleasant listen by any means, but it’s hard not to write it off as an end-of-contract fulfilment rather than a true artistic statement.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Crash’s best moment comes precisely when Charli goes back to her roots. The only song on the record produced by long-time collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, “Lightning” is a new wave hit propelled by thundering drums and an infectious synth line. Not even bizarre production decisions (like the wildly out-of-place classic guitar or a four-minute running time that doesn’t do the song any favours) can stop “Lightning” from being one of Charli’s best songs.

6. “Gone” ft. Christine and the Queens (from Charli)

Her first collaboration with Christine and the Queens, “Gone” was smartly picked to be the third single off Charli. Fuelled by romantic doubts and insecurities, “Gone” is basically Charli’s version of a sad pop ballad – and by ballad Charli means an epic metallic-tinged song with a 114 BPM. Produced by A.G. Cook and Lotus IV, it features relatively minimalistic instrumentation, with an industrial bass working hand in hand with the percussive metallic pangs popping in and out of scene. Mirroring Charli’s growing despair as expressed in the heated pathos of her vocals, the instrumental becomes more complex as the song reaches its final point – a glitchy outro that wouldn’t have felt out of place on Pop 2.

5. “Nuclear Seasons” (from True Romance)

Co-written with Ariel Rechtshaid, “Nuclear Reasons” is the first great Charli XCX song. It’s also extremely baffling – in a good way. I mean, to start with, the song’s main hook is an Aqua-like “oh-ah-oh” backing vocal that stands out like a sore thumb against the darkwave-inspired instrumental. A clear sign of what was to come, this is an extremely busy and fidgety song – one that is never happy to tread the same path for more than 30 seconds. “Nuclear Seasons” is the sonic representation of a nervous kid jumping from one song to another whilst browsing an eclectic yet carefully curated music library that somehow includes both Cold Cave and Britney Spears. Intelligently tacked on to Charli’s first studio album, this is arguably her best non-PC music song.

4. “Anthems” (from How I’m Feeling Now)

Of all the great songs on how I’m feeling now (and there’s loads), none of them hits the brief as perfectly as “Anthems”. Co-produced by 100 Gecs’ Dylan Brady and inspired by the teen comedy “Project X”, “Anthems” does what it says on the tin – it’s a manic party anthem that could turn a wake into a rave in a matter of seconds. Written a few weeks into Covid lockdown, this is Charli XCX at her best, an edgy but unpretentious adrenaline shot coupled with an infectious chorus. It’s bound to remain a DJ set staple for decades to come.

3. “Unlock It” ft. Kim Petras and Jay Park (from Pop 2)

Hot take: no artist in the past decade has released more high-octane pop bangers than Charli XCX. And “Unlock It” might easily be the best one. Produced by A.G. Cook, “Unlock It” is built on an incessant looped vocal hook that has the same effect as ingesting 2kgs of pure sugar in one sitting. The song operates on a similar plain as “Vroom Vroom” or “Next Level Charli”, with Futurism-inspired lyrics about going fast, kissing hard, and getting high sung over a bubbly instrumental that peaks with its rumpled, cathartic end. Including a great feature from Kim Petras and an out-of-place-but-fun verse by Jay Park, “Unlock It” can teach us all a very valuable lesson – sometimes the batshit crazy choices are the ones that work best.

2. “Vroom Vroom” (from Vroom Vroom EP)

The biggest turning point in Charli’s career, “Vroom Vroom” will always be remembered for being one of the songs that put the trailblazer producer SOPHIE in the spotlight. And for good reason. Up to that point, SOPHIE had released her fair share of bangers – including 2013’s “Bipp”, which was already rightfully considered one of the best pop singles of the decade. But “Vroom Vroom” was something else. It was messy and chaotic, and yet at its heart was a pop sensibility that brought it closer to the mainstream it was trying to tear apart. Simply put, no other producer has ever got more out of Charli XCX.

“Vroom Vroom” is unstoppable, a hedonistic whirlwind comprised of dozens of influences (from UK bass to trap) all crammed into a blender. Atop it all sits Charli, whose swaggering braggadocio and questionable lyricism (“ice cubes on our tongues ‘cos we like to keep it freezy”) are the sonic representation of a Harmony Korine film: is this for real, or is it all a joke? And if it is a joke, then why am I so moved?

1. “Track 10” (from Pop 2)

“Track 10” is such a perfect song that Charli XCX saw no problem in re-hashing it for her self-titled album as the edgeless Lizzo collab “Blame It On Your Love”. True, “Blame It On Your Love” was supposedly recorded before “Track 10”, but surely Charli and her team knew that it would always pale in comparison with “Track 10”, right? Right?? Anyway, the god-awful Lizzo version died a sweet and fast death – it peaked at no. 70 in the UK charts before vanishing into the ether of songs that should’ve never existed.

But that’s enough digression. As the closing track on Pop 2, “Track 10” wraps the project up with a neat summation of its aesthetics: emotional sincerity expressed through heavily auto-tuned vocals, a continuous back-and-forth between the low-key and the OTT, and cathartic throw-everything-to-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks moments where everything sticks. You might not think that it’s the best thing she’s ever made, (although you’d be dead wrong), but there’s little to no doubt that “Track 10” is the ultimate Charli XCX song, for now.

The music industry’s precious little secret has gotten too big to strap down. Jesse Saint John has been a songwriter and creative director for a couple years now, working with music industry forces like Britney Spears, Charli XCX, and Selena Gomez to curate undeniably powerful bodies of work, along with launching a solo career as an artist whose sound is as personable as the narratives behind them.

Recently charting in the Top 10’s for R&B/hip-hop and rap songwriters for Billboard, Jesse Saint John has made 2019 his year. He’s followed up from debuting his solo artist career in 2018 with tracks like “Move,” “What Do You Like,” and “Fake It” by releasing don’t stop dancing. life gets sad. earlier this year — a forward-thinking pop EP that redefines the boundaries of traditional pop music and exposes his inner thoughts to the world. As a therapeutic form of acknowledging one’s darkness, the singer-songwriter synthesized what it’s like to strive to be the best in today’s fast-paced digital age, with societal pressures and all, within this project. Tracks like “Wiser,” a star-studded music video with friends and contemporaries, depict the push-and-pull struggle dealt with putting out music as an artist and selling yourself as an artist. With an innate knack for creativity (especially having been a visual creative director for other artists), the video shows different versions of himself which captures his close-to-manic feelings of unsettlement, as he sings on loop, “what if I’m not getting any wiser?”

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More recently, the co-written banger with Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”, has been the number 1 song on the Hot 100 for five weeks now, having overthrown the summer 2019 anthem of “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X which comfortably sat at number 1 for 19 weeks. “Truth Hurts” was released in 2017, however there’s a reason the two year old began to chart. The empowering lyricism and artistic vision set in stone for the track has rode the rising wave of queer perspectives being embrace for radiowaves, creatives, and allies. From talking about real feelings and situations, Jesse Saint John has made a name for himself as an artist both behind the scenes and in the spotlight to not only empower queer artistry, but also lead the music industry sonically in the right path.

Jesse Saint John is a product of his cultural and artistic inspirations and loved ones around him – Of course, with the sparky flair of his own unconventional thinking, he’s created his own image to hint at new paths and new aesthetics for up and coming artists gravitating around him. Take a look inside his mind with his curated Queeropedia playlist.

[su_quote]This playlist is made up of songs I’ve co-written or artists I’ve collaborated with, & a few of my idols. I’m super blessed to work with a huge spectrum of LGBTQ superstars & it’s one of my life’s missions to collab with & highlight LGBTQ talent cuz when I succeed it’s not just for me it’s for my community, & it’s especially for those underrepresented in the mainstream. I love us so much ♥️?[/su_quote]

All the previous episodes of Queeropedia are available on our Spotify profile.

Even experienced CupcakKe listeners are liable to have their jaw dropped by the rapper’s famously explicit, brutally honest lyrics, regardless of how accustomed to her style they might think they are. With her 2016 debut album, Cum Cake, CupcakKe – once performing in churches around her native Chicago – stormed the rap game with an unprecedented amalgam of shock value and legitimate insight that was, and still remains, in a league of its own.

It’s difficult to imagine hearing this debut effort for the very first time again, but doing so is really the only way to put into perspective just how unapologetically CupcakKe announced her entrance. Only three tracks in, and we’ve already heard songs called “Vagina” and “Pedophile” – examples of her off the wall sexual storytelling and immensely personal revelations, respectively. And, of course, so too comes the added touch of CupcakKe’s career being birthed by “Vagina”, just as – well, you get it.

Going from a track who’s entire chorus is “Slurp that dick ‘til it cum” to one that unreservedly accounts the artist’s painful experience as a sexually exploited 15-year-old felt a bit jarring in 2016, but it’s that same sense of shock that made CupcakKe’s rapping as resounding and poignant as it was from the jump, and still is today. Her personal history fuels her music, imbuing it with a sense of openness and honesty that defines her style just as much as her lyrics do, despite the latter being more responsible for her notoriety.

Moving through the album, there are plenty of other instances of both hilariously graphic, X-rated romps and forthright confessions, alike. Songs like “Deepthroat” and “Juicy Coochie” come at face value, displaying accessible, rhythmic beats topped with boldly delivered verses that would fit right in on the Hip-Hop charts, were the subject matter not so radio-unfriendly. Other tracks, like “Darling” and “Tit for Tat”, maintain those mainstream textures, but venture insightfully into deeper facets of life and relationships.

Lyrically, Cum Cake affirms that the Chicago rapper had an early mastery of her one-of-a-kind brand of cutting punchlines. The sexual lines, as shocking as they are at times, possess a measurable amount of humor and poeticism that make them pop beyond the innate ear-catching vulgarity. Take for example this bar from “Juicy Coochie”: “Cause I drip so much slob on the cock you know / Give you what you want like we on The Oprah Show”. Indecent? Certainly. Thought-provoking? Admittedly.

From homeless shelters to festival stages, CupcakKe’s success story is self-perpetuating, with a life full of intense experiences informing a discography full of intense divulgences. And, while a lot of Cum Cake’s themes are reliably lascivious, each track still finds a way to ensure that CupcakKe isn’t repeating herself, as she proves that there are more distinct ways to paint a picture of a blowjob than you could’ve possibly imagined.

CupcakKe‘s Cum Cake is a debut that’s envelope-pushing to say the least, and one that set the foundation for a totally independent catalogue that still is to this day. Just make sure you’re careful of who you play it around.

Chicago’s rapper CupcakKe had a tough week as she posted a message on social media saying she was about to commit suicide. After having received help from the hospital and reassured her fans, the artist drops today a brand new tune, “Squidward Nose”, which once again channels the cartoon universe. The playful track could be the first single off of a new album to be released in 2019. As a reminder, CupcakKe released two albums in 2018, the excellent “Ephorize” and “Eden“, that we both named as Thunderclap: Best New Album.

Helsinki’s Flow Festival, one of Finland’s biggest musical gatherings and one of the world’s first carbon neutral festivals, revealed the first names of their 2019 edition and we’re aleady so hyped up.

Besides the iconic The Cure and Tame Impala, they will invite HighClouds-approved artists Robyn, Mitski, CupcakKe, and Yves Tumor who are all featured in our 100 Tracks of 2018 list to be revealed very soon. The first round of names also features Father John Misty, Modeselektor, and Amnesia Scanner. Check the full announcement and get your tickets on their website.

First, no one can be objective, there’s no truth in music. Then, it can be mentally difficult for artists to accept these insights. We are music fans above all and we never want to hurt anyone. Our goal is only to discover new talents and to bring them to our readers’ ears. We know they don’t always have the time to listen to everything we scan and write about during the year so these lists are just recommendations of what they should first focus on. Nothing more.

We know it’s a shared subjective feeling: 2018 has been another great year for music. We got introduced to fascinating newcomers with strong concepts that prove that albums are certainly not dead yet. Some rising singer-songwriters confirmed their defining style while a few established artists successfully re-recorded their masterpiece or explored challenging new soundscapes. You can find below the 30 albums that made 2018 according to our staff and stay tuned for our usual 100 Tracks of the year list next week.

30) Amen Dunes – Freedom

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29) Kadhja Bonet – Childqueen

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28) Yves Tumor – Safe in the Hands of Love

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27) Whitney Ballen – You’re A Shooting Star, I’m A Sinking Ship

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26) Tirzah – Devotion

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25) CupcakKe – Eden

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24) Rosalía – El Mal Querer

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23) Tomberlin – At Weddings

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22) Sidney Gish – No Dogs Allowed

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21) Ezra Furman – Transangelic Exodus

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20) Kali Uchis – Isolation

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19) Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer

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18) Frankie Cosmos – Vessel

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17) U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited

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16) Ariana Grande – Sweetener

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15) Ex:Re – Ex:Re

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14) Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy

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13) Tierra Whack – Whack World

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12) IDLES – Joy As An Act of Resistance.

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11) illuminaties hoties – Kiss Yr Frenemies

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10) Mr Twin Sister – Salt

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9) SOPHIE – Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Sides

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8) Low – Double Negative

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7) noname – Room 25

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6) Soccer Mommy – Clean

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5) Beach House – 7

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4) Robyn – Honey

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3) Lucy Dacus – Historian

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2) Snail Mail – Lush

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1) Mitski – Be The Cowboy

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Covered in chocolate syrup, dotted with rainbow sprinkles, and teasing a strawberry, CupcakKe has returned true-to-form on Eden. Kicking off with the line “This for the ‘cupcakKe a joke’”, this album spends every minute of its runtime picking apart that notion and any others like it, all while making one thing exceedingly clear: CupcakKe doesn’t fuck around.

You don’t have to get too deep into Eden before it becomes apparent that the album bears a lot of similarities to her last album, Ephorize. And yet, what would so often be seen as ample reason for an album to be executed and dumped in a shallow grave for rehashing old ideas just doesn’t seem to apply to CupcakKe. While the confidence, shamelessness, and poignancy remain the same, the laugh evoking punchlines, blush-worthy sexual descriptions, and surprisingly thought provoking moments of Eden all feel fresh.

There are a lot of punchline rappers out there, and a lot of extremely clever ones at that; but, few are as blatantly hilarious as CupcakKe. Call it shock value if you want, but songs like “Garfield” and “Typo” with lines like “I sip on that dick, call me Mississippi” and “Legs tied like some chucks/Candles lit while we fuck/Enema, he in my butt” force you to hit pause and collect yourself in the most enjoyable way.

Now, as hard as it is to imagine shifting to a more serious note after being told “Twat make him feel good like soup and crackers”, she continues to do so surprisingly well throughout the album. The tracklisting here is well padded with meaningful songs like “Cereal and Water”, “Dangled”, and the closing track “A.U.T.I.S.M”, which include takes on social inequality, heartbreak, and inclusivity – all of which feel deeply personal to her. Moreover, her ability to stay laser-focused on the topic at the hand until she’s said everything she needed to isn’t just impressive, it’s undoubtedly superior to that of a lot of rappers who poise themselves as strictly serious and conscious.

Any gripes with Eden are mostly superficial. Some of the beats sound uninspired and overly familiar, with the production on “Garfield”, for example, sounding a lot like something Drake or Rihanna passed on. Beyond that, the Chicago rapper’s hook-writing skills do feel sort of limited to repeating the title of a given track with a related punchline, which can sometimes fit the song, but, at other times, just starts to feel repetitive.

Regardless of what I, or anybody else, could ever say, she is going to continue being CupcakKe, and all there is to do is continue to enjoy and appreciate that. Individuality in artistry can be hard to come by, but she continues to make the case that she may very well be the fucking queen of it.

Chicago rapper CupcakKe has teamed up once again with Logan Fields for the video of her new single “Hot Pockets”. Introduced by a drag queen, the rapper is throning and counting her dollars, surrounded by half-naked males. Then, the boss also gets a cocktail and a huge sausage cause kings and queens also need to take sustenance in their daily life, especially when they are that productive. Indeed, “Hot Pockets” is CupcakKe‘s seventh music video in seven months. Watch below.

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