Charli XCX has spoken about her “experimental” upcoming new album, revealing that she expanded her sound and “really went all in” on the project.

The pop star dropped her Lizzo-featuring single, ‘Blame It on Your Love’, earlier this month. It marked her first new solo material since ‘1999’, a stand-alone collaboration with Troye Sivan.

Having recently teased her third full-length LP following the release of two mixtapes, the ‘Boys’ artist has now discussed what fans can expect – along with her decision to drip feed new material across a five-month period.


“I didn’t go small on this, I really went all in,” Charli XCX told NME backstage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

“Maybe too in, so I really wanna prep people. Since the mixtapes [2017’s ‘Number 1 Angel‘ and ‘Pop 2‘], I’ve really wanted to push my sound and push pop as far as it can go. I feel really proud of the music that I’ve made, so I really want the songs to have as much of a moment individually as possible.”

She continued: “There are definitely lots of more experimental moments. I’ve been working with some really great producers from A. G. Cook to Nömak, who is really incredible at sound design.

“There are a lot of harder moments on the record compared to really stripped-back things.”

Asked about the reason for returning to a conventional album format for this project, Charli XCX replied: “I think essentially for me, if you look at it on paper, they kind of are albums but they’re called mixtapes just so I could put them out faster.”


The singer went on to tell NME that the LP was made within a similarly short time frame. “The album wasn’t as short as that, but its definitely been quite a [quick process],” she explained.

“I don’t really like taking a lot of time. I spent a little bit more time but it is very rapid fire – I like to be very spontaneous with the decisions I make around my music. So for me, if I’m under a time pressure the music’s better.

“First instinct only, always. I think that’s the best,” XCX added.

Discussing her decision to work once again with A. G. Cook on new material, the pop star said of the producer: “He’s definitely one of my favourite people to collaborate with. We just kind of trust each other so we work really well together. I’m just such a fan of him anyway and his own music and the production he does on other people’s work.

“Even though we’ve been working together pretty solidly now, it’s just such a dream every time we’re in the studio together.”