Charli XCX Is Pop’s Most Exciting Star & Here’s Why You Should Be Paying Attention”
- Jul 21
- 5 min read
Charli XCX also known as Charlotte Emma Aitchison took the globe by storm in 2024 with her album “Brat”. Known for its experimental sounds and themes of girlhood, the album became a staple in every home. The music was flawless and will forever be a timestamp of 2024 but the real genius was her marketing.
Charli has been a name in the music industry for just under 20 years now with her first release in 2008 being a track called “Do it well” and made her breakthrough in 2012
co-writing and featuring on “I love it” with Icona pop, this streak of success was jus beginning, getting her first billboard no.1 in 2014 featuring and composing on “Fancy” with Iggy Azalea followed by her first chart topping single as a solo artist “Boom Clap” followed by her first studio album “Sucker” in 2015 the cult of XCX was beginning to grow.
In 2019 the genius of Charli XCX started becoming clear, she graced the world with two projects that year, her album “Charli” which featured hit track “1999” with Troye Sivan but more notably she formed Nasty Cherry an all girl band who broke into the spotlight and showed us all how to do it too, the Nasty Cherry journey is documented on netflix almost like a reality TV show and if you can cut through the noise of their personal lives (which is very enjoyable) Charli reveals some key ways to become known. Of course, I will tell you about them now.
Step 1: Be seen
These girls would show up at events, gigs and crash red carpets together each one of them looking the part and when asked who they are, a simple and effective “We’re nasty cherry, your favourite band of 2019”.
Step 2: Be exclusive
The band threw an exclusive houseparty limited to friends, family and a couple of “angels” (Charli’s fans), where people drank and danced together and were surprised by the band's debut performance. Just one track but enough to make people want more.
Step 3: Know your brand
Do you have a clear look that unifies you all? Do you look like a band that you would’ve
loved growing up? Or a popstar? Or rockstar? A great way to think about it is like this: If someone was dressing up as me/us for halloween what would they wear? If you don’t know, that means more focus needs to be put into your branding.
These steps are what every artist needs to make them stand out of the crowd and to stop being just another local band/artist who is trapped in their city. Be someone you would want to fanboy/girl over.
Exclusivity is one of my favourite marketing methods. The idea of being part of an important club that no one else is in makes your fans feel special.
Lana Del Rey did this with her instagram account Honeymoon, it’s set to private but periodically opens to the public for a day or 2. Which leads any fans who don’t follow her to be checking her instagram everyday. This concept is what led Charli to throwing her infamous boiler room set which marked the beginning of Brat, an exclusive “if you know you know party” with remixes of unheard tracks.
In her Interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Charli talks about this concept of drip feeding your fans and making them “feverish” for your work instead of just constantly serving them “an endless buffet of stuff”.
Almost trying to induce an addiction to the art by producing incredible
work and creating this intrigue with exclusivity forcing this feeling of “what are they going to do next?”. As a rising artist you have to understand that people need a reason to listen to your music and to stick around, around 60,000 songs are uploaded onto spotify every day and that's a lot of noise to cut through. So, what are you doing to cultivate a fanbase, exclusivity and mystery?
This takes me into the present “Music, Fashion, Film” Charli XCX’s upcoming album releasing on the 26th July is playing into the mystery and exclusivity more than ever before, let's dissect why it’s working. She started by making a new instagram account called b.sides with content just for the fans, she posted a video on this account of an unreleased song called “thinking bout you” which is only available on Instagram or on the “Music, Fashion, Film” vinyl B side.
This is a direct market to her physical media which will fiscally benefit her
far more than streaming. She then announced listening parties across several major global cities that all took place on the same day, allowing the fans who went to feel connected to each other and become their own club. The tickets were free and attendees all got goodie bags with several “Music, Fashion, Film” merch pieces, cultivating the experience into something that could become a “core memory”.
To top it off she played a secret show in Brooklyn, NY playing unreleased music from “Music, Fashion, Film”, 3 songs from “How I’m feeling now”, guest appearances from Clairo and Kim Petras, supported by “Underscores” and only played one track from “Brat” which to most people’s surprise was “Apple”. Meaning lots of “angels” are suffering a serious case of FOMO and are becoming undeniably more excited for the album launch.
As I began writing this piece an interview with Charli talking about “Anti-Marketing” was just released, talking on the importance of intimacy with your fans and building this connection.
As more people are headed back to physical media and we are craving more human
connection, having secret shows and private instagram’s is gonna benefit the longevity of your career not just fiscally but in terms of relevancy more than ever. She could just do another “Brat wall” but instead has decided to create even more moments building connections with her fans.
All we have to do is look at how we can make this work for ourselves, what can we do to create moments like this with our fans. The budget can be non-existent, you just have to be creative, my band Crimson threw a house party last year for our single “Your Underwear” and it helped create more hype for the song and built FOMO for the people who weren't there. It also incentivised people to join our mailing list and come to our shows.
To end, Charli XCX’s tunes were soundtracking my childhood, little did I know she would end up being the soundtrack to my adulthood as well as the marketing icon I look up to.
