It happened, thank God: At long last, Charli XCX crossed over into an actual, chart-topping pop star across the world this year.
Following the release of her very underrated debut True Romance, one of the very best albums of 2013, the alt-goth-indie-whatever-pop princess made a name for herself over the past few months thanks to a slew of features and soundtrack smashes, including Icona Pop‘s inescapable “I Love It,” Iggy Azalea‘s inescapable Song Of Summer 2014 “Fancy” and, of course, her shout-y, celebratory The Fault In Our Stars anthem, “Boom Clap.”
With no time to lose, Charli’s back for round two in October with her upcoming sophomore record: Sucker, recorded after at trip to Sweden, where she recorded and ditched a punk record.
Evidently still inspired by those punk rawk vibez, the Buffalo boot-wearing beauty is coming out swinging with the first taste of what’s to come from Sucker: “Break The Rules,” an almighty end-of-summer anthem with a massive, rebelliously fucks-free chorus not all that unlike “I Love It.”
“I don’t wanna go to school! I just wanna break the rules!” she declares across the punchy chorus before the track dives into a fierce, frenzied breakdown, but not the EDM festival kind — more like a sleek electro-rock brand of beats. It’s sort of Garbage-esque and, as Buzzfeed pointed out, a bit Blur too.
The song is the sound of teenage drunken debauchery — house parties (get off my lawn!), dry humping sessions and middle fingers in the air — firmly positioning Charli as the new Queen Of Cool among the Tumblr crowd.
Boys and girls across the world, put on your dancing shoes: Charli’s taking us to the discotheque this fall.
Sucker will be released on October 21. (iTunes)
