Recently, Olivia Rodrigo had the honor of getting mentioned in a Jeopardy! clue. Now, Charli XCX has had a similar but sort of opposite TV experience, which has prompted talk of a new album.
On the UK game show The Chase, a contestant was asked, “What is the stage name of the English pop singer Charlotte Aitchison?” Instead of correctly choosing “Charli XCX,” they opted to instead answer “Charli SFX.” Charli shared a screenshot of the moment and used it as motivation, writing on Instagram, “ok guys… much needed mainstream album coming soon i promise.”
After that, Charli went on to give hints at what her upcoming material will sound like. In the comments of the post, a fan wrote, “sucker stans our time is now,” in reference to Charli’s 2014 album Sucker. Charlie replied by insisting her new songs are more indebted to her debut album, 2013’s True Romance: “not quiitttteee sorry. I think this ones for the true romance angels.”
On Twitter, Charli went into even greater depth about what’s to come. She shared a screenshot of a text conversation with Ariel Rechtshaid, who produced multiple True Romance tracks. In their chat, Charli invited him to join her in the studio in June and said she wants to make “an evolution of” True Romance.
Then, in response to a fan wondering what the album is going to sound like, Charli wrote in a series of tweets:
“well all the clues are there actually, you just need to piece them together… i’m kinda still piecing together too and it’s interesting. it’s my future and past coming full circle. like, i randomly listened to ariel’s ‘and the writer is’ episode and he mentioned how there were moments on [True Romance] where he was referencing jimmy jam & terry lewis — and that was interesting to me because [A.G. Cook] kinda turned me on to them and we’ve mentioned them a lot and.. and i’ve obviously mentioned Janet [Jackson] here and there… and i feel that [True Romance] & [Pop 2] are sort of intrinsically linked. and both albums to me are actually quite ‘mainstream’ but just ahead of their time and under marketed in a kind of charming way.”
A fan responded, “so everyone won but sucker stans?” Charli replied to that, “I think even the sucker stans will win because there is this kinda more mainstream tone and digestible concept… everyone’s a winner.”
Find Charli’s tweets below.
https://t.co/BjD1UKs8wa pic.twitter.com/ER3D9Rnk6I
— Charli (@charli_xcx) May 23, 2021
well all the clues are there actually, you just need to piece them together… i’m kinda still piecing together too and it’s interesting. it’s my future and past coming full circle.
— Charli (@charli_xcx) May 23, 2021
like, i randomly listened to ariel’s “and the writer is” episode and he mentioned how there were moments on TR where he was referencing jimmy jam & terry lewis – and that was interesting to me because A. G. kinda turned me on to them and we’ve mentioned them a lot and..
— Charli (@charli_xcx) May 23, 2021
and i’ve obviously mentioned Janet here and there… and i feel that TR & P2 are sort of intrinsically linked. and both albums to me are actually quite “mainstream” but just ahead of their time and under marketed in a kind of charming way.
— Charli (@charli_xcx) May 23, 2021
I think even the sucker stans will win because there is this kinda more mainstream tone and digestible concept… everyone’s a winner.
— Charli (@charli_xcx) May 23, 2021
Charli XCX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.