Charli XCX calls back to the 2000s with sleaze and samples on ‘Von Dutch’
Fresh off the back of a Boiler Room appearance that left thousands with FOMO, Charli XCX has unleashed club hedonism on the masses with her new single ‘Von Dutch’, harking back to the style and sleaze of the 2000s.
The new single marks a return to her roots for Charli, who began her career uploading dance music demos to MySpace and playing sets at illegal raves in the 2000s. Now, she discards the hot pink pop of ‘Speed Drive’ and the commercial appeal of Crash to call back to that era, the heyday of its namesake.
Sampling Bodyrox’s ‘Yeah Yeah’, Charli pairs unapologetically narcissistic refrains with swerving synths and pulsing beats. It’s a song that will fill basement clubs for years to come, a piece that could pull even the least likely dancers away from the smoking area and under the lights.
As the sleazy soundscape surrounds her, Charli sings of envy and obsession, all of it directed towards her, of course. “It’s so obvious I’m your number one,” she repeats throughout the song, and it’s difficult not to validate her vanity. No one else is reinventing pop quite like she is.
The track calls back to a pop cultural landscape from two decades ago, the sonic embodiment of bedazzled flip phones and Paris Hilton, a return to the idea of the ‘it girl’ and a rejection of the Tiktok era. It’s an ode to last night’s eyeliner and this morning’s hangover, with bending synths sure to make you regret the latter.
The 2000s sleaziness of it all is only elevated by the single’s accompanying music video, which features an eye-rolling, sunglass-throwing, paparazzi-dodging Charli running through Charles de Gaulle Airport. She headbutts and spits at the camera before blowing it a kiss, loving the attention but feigning hate.
‘Von Dutch’ provides the first glimpse at Charli’s sixth studio record Brat set to arrive this summer, and it already seems that the record will live up to its name. Watch the music video below.
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