Charli XCX picks the song with the power to “shift culture and public perception”
Month after month, year upon year, Charli XCX becomes more and more fascinating.
Long before the boom of Brat, Charli was already there as her discography spanned from radio-ready tunes to intense hyperpop and beyond. But now, in the aftermath of her biggest era, she’s letting the world into the workings.
Of course, Brat was already an album that allows us to see behind the curtain. “I’m famous but not quite / But I’m perfect for the background / One foot in a normal life,” she sang openly and honestly on ‘I Might Say Something Stupid’. Or on ‘Rewind’, she’s outright about her engagement with music press, singing, “I used to never think about Billboard / But now I’ve started thinkin’ again / Wonderin’ ’bout whether I think I deserve commercial success”.
While the world of pop often feels like a mythical and magical place, lately, Charli seems intent on opening it up, showing the realities of cultural fame and status, but also revealing the oddness that characterises it all.
Launching her Substack, she shared a lengthy essay about precisely that, going into the pros and cons of being a pop star. The cons are as dark as you’d expect as she plunged into the misogyny, the self-doubt, the isolation of a life like hers. But among the pros, she reminded the world that she’s a fan first, excitedly writing about getting to hear hits before they’re hits.
“One of the main realities of being a pop star is that at a certain level, it’s really fucking fun,” she wrote candidly, adding to the list of benefits, “You also get to hear a lot of incredible music that undoubtedly is going to shift culture and public perception months before it’s released.”
In particular, though, one moment stands out. “The time Addison played me ‘Diet Pepsi’ for the first time while driving around New York after dinner at Casino springs to mind,” she added as the clearest example in her mind, picking out Rae’s 2024 career-shifting single as a track with unlimited potential.
Before ‘Diet Pepsi’, Rae was mostly a social media persona with a half-baked music career and a half-baked acting career. After it dropped, she was a fully fledged pop phenomenon that was demanding attention thanks to that one cinematic and genuinely interesting tune. With a wistful melody that meanders through different parts, it’s the sort of song that simultaneously feels like you’ve heard it a million times, but also takes you by surprise.
It’s not the first time Charli has sung Rae’s praises. “It’s hard to flip the public perception of you – and she did it effortlessly. People are envious of that,” she told Billboard, adding, “I love hearing her talk about voyeurism, fame, money. She tells stories in a really cool and potent way.”
To her, Rae is a one-of-a-kind artist, adding, “Her artistic flair is so pure and true to who she is and what she wants. It’s special.”
“Sometimes you get to help out your other pop star friends by providing an opinion or lending an ear or a helping make a decision relating to their work which allows you to feel a part of a interconnected community of people you love and respect,” Charli added as another pro to pop stardom with Rae being an example there too given that it was Charli who suggest that ‘Diet Pepsi’ be called exactly that, hearing it once and already knowing it was a song destined to be a hit.
Not even a hit. To Charli, it’s a song with the potential to change things, truly backing the tune and truly backing the power a pop song can have.
