A God-awful Small Affair

There was a brief period when the music video for Break the Rules emerged that I entered a fit of token hipster eye-rolling. Here was an excellent talisman of pop music reducing herself to the most banal of teenage, rebellious Americana and at the height of her crossover from indie darling to certified, chart-dominating success story. I understand how awful it always sounds. I'm not quite so bitter as some (seriously, what a fucking douchey closing paragraph), though, and if I'm going to go forward with any gripes about this album it's the fear that its ridiculous pushbacks and rescheduled release dates might dent its chances of coming anywhere near the top of our charts. Atlantic's potential failure to strike whilst the iron is hot may of course be endemic to the many , many stars that I tend to take to my heart, and it shouldn't by any means change the fact that Charli XCX is enjoying a fantastic lifestyle right now, but I don't know. Sometimes the wor

Now that her songwriting has earned her a #1 single (albeit for someone else), you'd have thought that at least a little public interest would've found its way to Charlotte Aitchison's doorstep. Alas, True Romance peaked at the tragic #85 in her home country, and the singles could only dream of those lofty heights. Still, it's not entirely surprising that with one Tumblr-ready emoji-loving eye-catching British pop sensation winding down her widely cynical and frankly shite album campaign , we may have grown a little tired of the whole lo-fi, grungey Americana thing in pop music. Remember when people cared about Lana del Rey? Even she can't score a hit without a generic remix nowadays. Nonetheless, Charli XCX stands out as a fine example of quality over ubiquity. She arguably could go fully down the I Love It route and storm to the top of the chart every 6 months or so, but has instead worked with about 20 different producers of varying fame and genre to produ