Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Review: Charli XCX – Sucker

★★★☆☆
Three Stars
 
It’s been a busy year-and-a-half for Charli XCX. After penning global smash ‘I Love It’ for Icona Pop, she released her debut album, True Romance to critical raves, recorded an unreleased punk album, and then followed it up with lending her commanding presence to Iggy Azalea’s summer smash ‘Fancy’. Then, in between writing for Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Rihanna, she gained her first solo UK and US top 10 hit with ‘Boom Clap’, and still found time to record another solo effort Sucker, which having been already released in America, comes to the UK next January. Yet despite these huge successes Charli XCX still seemed as if she was on the perpetual come-up, never quite landing that elusive home-run. All that should change with this massive, crowd-pleasing sophomore album, which sees Charli obliterate any lingering doubt that she can’t hang with today’s top-tier pop stars.
 
Abandoning the fascinating but alienating alt pop stylings of her debut, Sucker instead sees Charli appropriating from pop punk and new wave, which she combines with a sugar-coated 90s nostalgia trip. Yet for all its derivativeness, the record still feels immediate and current, partly due to the incongruity of these musical stylings in present-day pop, but also thanks to the anachronisms snuck in here and there – an 8 bit sample on ‘Gold Coins’, the synths on ‘Boom Clap’. The record has few of her previous lyrical abstractions, instead favouring crowd-pleasing chant along choruses. On its own, Sucker is a fun, silly pop record with expertly crafted but shallow hooks. Yet, within the context of its mastermind’s oeuvre, so chock full of diverse influences and disparate styles, it becomes a masterclass in selling a personal identity distinct from a musical sensibility.
 
Where True Romance gave us Charli as pop’s alternative “it” girl, here, she styles herself as the ultimate teen queen. Songs like ‘London Queen’ and ‘Gold Coins’ rely on deliberately opaque references, defining her persona in terms of cultural signifiers and commercial iconography. Yet her cynical transformation into a globe-conquering pop product is offset by the joyousness of the songs, and her ability to sell the simple, ridiculous choruses she’s written for herself. She makes the most of every confident seduction or cocky put down, alternating between a melancholic lower register and a high, bratty whine. It’s a commanding, tour-de-force vocal performance. Sucker is self consciously commercial, serving up obvious cultural touchstones and accessible nostalgia, all helmed by a singer styling herself as the quintessential post-Britney pop star. Sucker therefore becomes a witty and thorough examination of what pop music means to us in 2014.
 
 
Like many recent big pop albums, Sucker at first plays as somewhat top-heavy. The opening six tracks, chock full of pre-release singles, are the most bombastic and distinct on the album. Right from the off, as the titular opening track screeches “Fuck you, Sucker!” we’re hurtled through a parade of kiss-offs and come-ons, from ‘Boom Clap’, to ‘Breaking Up’, via ‘Break the Rules’. Yet as the album reaches its centrepiece – the glorious roller-disco anthem ‘Doing It’ – the vulnerability behind the angst and bravado comes to the fore. To say tracks like album closer ‘Need Ur Love’ are emotionally perceptive is to stretch the bounds of credibility given the album’s admirable determination to never let up its relentless chase of hits. Yet, the songwriting gradually reveals the insecurity and confusion at the heart of her bluster, making the album a surprisingly compelling re-listen. 
 
Sucker is a love letter to the mainstream, to generational touchstones and to pop music. It’s entirely, gloriously derivative, and yet sonically interesting and somehow refreshing. Like the lolly-pop Charli XCX brandishes on the album cover, Sucker is obvious, sugary and delightful. But it’s almost entirely empty calories.
 

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles