Everyone! Stop! Being! So! Nice!
Charli XCX is the sound of pop right now. For September 2019, the prolific auteur is guest editing Dazed. Head here to check the fashion brand she’s spotlighted, her dream collaborators, a visit to her home, video of her reacting to fans’ memes, plus way more.
When we came to do this piece, the initial idea was that we’d have every collaborator on Charli in one place, saying what they find annoying about Charli XCX, a mass roasting to complement all this celebration. This is, after all, an artist who has described herself as a troll, and who is annoying 20 per cent of the time. Surely, someone who appeared on Charli has some juice about her bad habits, vocal tics, unacceptable behaviour in the studio that need to get off their chest?
Well, it turns out that a lot of people who worked on the record wanted to stay off the record, and everyone was, mostly, really nice about Charli. Lizzo couldn’t do it, ‘cause who knows why, it’s three questions. Troye Sivan didn’t want to do it because he’d just interviewed her for Gay Times, which is fair enough really, he’d had enough of her. Maybe it just wasn’t a good idea, and for that, we only have ourselves to blame.
Here, Yaeji, HAIM, Chris, and Brooke Candy talk about what they love about Charli XCX, what they find annoying, and how their collaborations on Charli came to be.
YAEJI
What is most annoying about Charli XCX?
Yaeji: She’s got decent handles but can’t dunk.
What do you love most about Charli?
Yaeji: She shows the same love for obscure local electronic music scenes of different countries as she does for pop music. I still have vivid memories of talking to her about the Do Hits crew in China when we first met!
Can you talk us through the making of your collaboration “February 2017”?
Yaeji: We were dreaming up a collab for a while. Charli texted me one day asking if I’d like to do a track together with Clairo on it and I said yaooww yas let’s get it so here we are now.
HAIM
What is most annoying about Charli XCX?
HAIM: She’s so fast with writing amazing lyrics, it’s fucking aggravating because it takes us forever!
What do you love most about Charli?
HAIM: We’ve known her for so long and since the moment we met her she’s always been a bright light in our lives.
Can you talk us through the making of “Warm”?
HAIM: We don’t really write with other people but we jumped at the chance to write with Charli because we are such big fans. We got to the studio and Charli had just got a root canal, so half of her face was numb which started the day off on a funny note. We kept on telling her that she needed to go to bed and all she wanted to do was work. We wrote “Warm” in an hour and it was one of the most memorable writing sessions we’ve ever had.
BROOKE CANDY
What is most annoying about Charli XCX?
Brooke Candy: The most annoying thing about Charli XCX is that she can party non stop and still look flawless and I have one drink and end up looking like a bridge troll.
What do you love most about Charli?
Brooke Candy: I love her humour, loyalty, and house parties.
Can you talk us through the making of “Shake It”?
Brooke Candy: “Shake It” was made all over the world I believe. I think getting a group of women that powerful together all at once is a feat in itself. I’ll be flabbergasted if we can all get in the same room to at least perform the song once!
CHRIS
What is most annoying about Charli XCX?
Chris: The sound her nails do when she types something on her phone. Click click click click click. (FINALLY, A BIT OF A ROAST!!!)
What do you love most about Charli?
Chris: The intense sismance we have – it’s a thing, guys, I just LOVE HER LOADS, on stage and off stage!
Can you talk us through the making of “Gone”?
Chris: In the midst of WhatsApp conversations about everything – from career perspectives to deep feelings of insecurity, she sent me the demo of “Gone”. The production was there, and this defining line: “I feel so unstable / fucking hate those people”. I answered: is it our emo track? She said, can you write the rest of the lyrics about this feeling of being out of place, shattered by fear? I was like: you knocked at the right door. I wanted her to like the song so bad because I respect immensely her songwriting. Turns out she felt it was good enough :)