Charli XCX’s truly ground-breaking new album ‘CRASH’ has ended her discography on a high with it reaching the number 1 spot in the charts for both albums in the UK and Ireland but what is next for one of the decades most successful pop artists…


First signing on with a record deal at the age of 16 in 2010, the now 28-year-old musical legend, who has appeared alongside artists such as Iggy Azealia and Icona pop has drawn a close to her musical career. This is a bittersweet ending for her fanbase the ‘angels’ including me personally as I have been a huge fan of Charli for a while and to see her grow into the artist she is now at the release of ‘CRASH’ has been an honour.

I have always said that ‘Trophy’ and ‘Paradise’ from her 2016 EP ‘Vroom Vroom’ were my firm favourite songs of hers with the way she tore apart traditionally in the music industry through both being truly remarkable but now they are second best to every track on ‘CRASH.’ 

What made this moment of reaching number 1 even more special was how she dedicated the album to collaborative colleague and long-time friend SOPHIE who passed on at the beginning of 2021. In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple music, which is a must watch for any fellow ‘angles,’ she states the significance of SOPHIE throughout her musical career and how she ‘was always pushing me not to record with autotune’ and that is why she ‘was one of my biggest champions.’ This emotively touching segment alongside the album’s success will certainly have made SOPHIE proud.

This album according to Charli was about challenging the constrictions of the modern-day music industry even with the possibility of grief from her fanbase, which they still slammed her with after the release of ‘New Shapes’ and ‘Good ones,’ which I personally thought were smash hits. ‘CRASH’ was an attempt at highlighting past pop features in the progressively shorter style of song, whilst focusing on the general sexualisation of female stereotypes throughout society.

In terms of what is truly next for Charli, that is an impossible question to answer! We saw her give a new shape to the world of music through her career, so anything is possible. When it came to Zane Lowe asking her this very question in their interview, she struggled to give a definitive answer with the underlying reality being that she does not really know what she enjoys outside of the music industry, with work taking over the entirety of her lifestyle for the past decade. 

NME’s El Hunt has summarised well this ending for all of us stating that ‘if CRASH really does mark the death of Charli XCX as a major label artist- what a way to go.’ One thing for sure though is that this album has struck the ‘angels’ like lightning and will have them playing it on constant repeat begging for more...