Coming to us from the ambiguity of lockdown, Charli XCX follows up 2019’s ‘Charli’ with her fourth studio album, ‘how i’m feeling now’. It’s a big ask for a project put together in five and a half weeks to follow such a spectacle as ‘Charli’, but this latest effort feels like the perfect sequel to the incredible heights of last year. Where ‘Charli’ invited many other artists onto its setlist, including the likes of Lizzo, Troye Sivan, and Christine and the Queens, ‘how i’m feeling now’ sees Charli XCX stepping out and proving her ability to carry a project entirely on her own. This album looks to consolidate what the Charli XCX sound is, with production from the likes of 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady, Cook, BJ Burton and others helping to nourish and mature what listeners have come to expect from the 27-year-old artist.
Unlike many of us, Charli seems to have had an overwhelmingly productive lockdown, fuelled with determination and grit, evident from the outset with track 1 – ‘pink diamond’. “I just wanna go real hard” is Charli’s mantra on the track as she catches lackadaisical listeners unaware and forces that sort of sit-up-straight-and-pay-attention experience that commands 100% attentiveness. It’s menacing and venomous, it’s title merely a ghillie suit atop a deadly sniper of noise. Sonically, it somewhat resembles Chase and Status’ 2017 hit ‘Control’ with the grungy, commanding hook confirming beyond any doubt that Charli is indeed going “real hard”. It’s a bold way to start this album, but my god does it pay off. One hell of a track to kick things off.
From there, we transition to ‘forever’, a calmer yet not totally relaxed song dealing in Charli’s affection for her significant other. In the lyrics, Charli defies space and time, repeating “I’ll love you forever” whilst the track steadily builds in pace, resulting in a reassuring climax where the whirlwind sounds that accompany the first two verses escalate to an ambush of noise, then calm before the song’s close, never leaving the subject of the song in doubt over Charli’s feelings toward them. This song is the first moment of the album where the 100 gecs influence might be alluded to, but by the time the third track ‘claws’ rolls round, Charli has gone full gec. To those who aren’t aware of 100 gecs, they’re pretty mad. I’m not sure I’m really qualified to even try to explain what their music sounds like, so I’d recommend a listen for yourself to fully grasp what is going on in ‘claws’. The lyrics aren’t too complicated, but sonically ‘claws’ is a real treat for the ears. If it were a sweet, it’d be sherbet. (I’m losing my mind).
So far, Charli is 3/3 in my book, but that’s about to become 5/5. ‘7 years’ and ‘detonate’ are perhaps two of my favourite songs in the Charli XCX catalogue, with the former’s punctuated chorus worryingly catchy considering the pace it’s delivered at. It’s one of those that makes you head over to Genius to catch what she’s singing just so you can sing along to it which, for me, is always a good sign. And when we do pick up the lyrics, we learn of Charli’s initial issues about opening up to her partner and how that time felt like living a lie, but now she has moved beyond this, marking a significantly positive change in her life and allowing her to deliver this banger of a track. At the close of the track we are launched into ‘detonate’. ‘Detonate’ is to ‘how ‘m feeling now’ what ‘ilomilo’ is to Billie Eilish’s ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ in the sense that it’s just so damn listenable. It’s the least ‘in your face’ song on the track list so far and the record benefits greatly from its light, bubbly sound. It almost works in reverse to ‘pink diamond’ with the whole evasive title motif that Charli appears to be fond of. This time, the explosive connotations of the title are shrugged off and replaced with the comfy white pillows on the album cover.
With the next two tracks ‘enemy’ and ‘I finally understand’, Charli continues her solid performance at a point in the album where others artists might drop off. The songs are further consolidation of the evolved sound that Charli XCX has developed over the past two years. Sometimes it is hard to believe that this album is by the same artist as ‘Boom Clap’ and that, ladies and gentlemen is called growth. ‘I finally understand’ borders on garage music and is a bit of a change from the rest of the album so far. It’s refreshing and sticks out, giving listeners the inevitable toe taps if they’re not already bopping along in sync. A highlight on the album for me.
The next one is ‘c2.0’ – the one I was perhaps most excited by when I heard the opening. It confirmed to me that this was the sequel to ‘Click’ which appeared on 2019’s ‘Charli’ and was probably my favourite track on that record. It’s completely mental ending almost destroyed my speaker and gave me transformers vibes with the alien sounds that it brought to the table. It was hard-hitting and furious, yet ‘c2.0’ is quite different to that experience. It’s more in tone with the atmosphere Charli creates on this new album and the clickety-clackety robot ASMR sounds are now accompanied by what might be described as musical dreamcatchers or windpipes. These sounds come at the front of the track instead of the back which is symbolic of a song turned inside-out and entirely reinvented. I think I would have loved it if I had not heard ‘Click’ before, which remains my favourite of the two versions. Still good though.
‘party 4 u’ is, for most, embarrassingly relatable. Charli sings “I only threw this party for you, I was hoping you would come through” as the listener recalls all the unnecessary things they’ve done to get the attention of someone else. Nevertheless, Charli seems to somehow make it stylish, bringing back her trademark flow previously seen on ‘Next Level Charli’ which always hits so. Damn. Hard. It’s a great section that breaks up the track perfectly, I just wish we had more of it, to be honest.
And just like that, ‘anthems’, the penultimate track on the album, grants my wish. It brings with it that musical ferocity that I’m clearly a sucker for. I just love to see an artist go wild, and this is exactly what happens on ‘anthems’, with Charli reminiscing on late night partying with her friends from the relative prison that is lockdown, no matter how necessary it is. We’re all yearning for that next drink in the pub, that next “been busy, mate?” question to the taxi driver, that next sweet release of club night euphoria, and Charli gives us the perfect song for our restless mood. Then, she hits us with the closing track ‘visions’ which continues to fuel this partying lust we find ourselves in. Pounding drums and nostalgic synths transport the listener to the chaotic trance of the dance floor, abrasive lights blinding those who care to look up from the ritual. It works perfectly with ‘anthems’ that precedes it, and with this pair of tracks, Charli XCX ends what is a water-tight album.
‘how i’m feeling now’ is an excellent expansion on the Charli XCX catalogue, never over-staying its welcome at a 37 minute run time. Initially I had my doubts about the total purging of features in comparison to 2019’s ‘Charli’, but the variation and range in Charli’s voice is so unique that it comfortably makes up for what might have been there. Additionally, the consistent use of vocal effects keeps the listener engaged, and never once does the listening become stale. However, I do not feel that this new record is quite as good as ‘Charli’. There are reasons for this which are perfectly acceptable and largely out of Charli’s hands because of the current state of the world. Firstly, she put this whole project together in five and a half weeks. That is insane. For reference, I’ve been doing my Shakespeare essay for roughly the same amount of time and I’m positive its almost hopeless. Secondly, the features were so damn good on ‘Charli’ that I would have loved some reappearances from them as they all had prefect chemistry with Charli. Obviously that was never possible in such a short span of time but hey, I’m allowed to want. Lastly, it would have been almost impossible for any artist to follow up on a project so incredibly complete as ‘Charli’ as that is essentially her magnum opus. Instead, Charli gives us yet another classic album, different enough from ‘Charli’ to hold its own, yet similar enough to mature her unique sound and develop as an artist.
This is my first proper review of a new album so I’m still trying to figure out how I want the format of these to work. So, instead of giving this project a star rating or a number out of ten, I’ll just tell you to bloody listen to it. It’s really good and I’d definitely recommend it if you want to listen to what pop music should/could be if we were blessed with more artists as talented as Charli XCX.
Favourite Tracks: pink diamond, claws, 7 years, detonate, I finally understand, party 4 u, anthems, visions.
The Turntable 