Charli XCX has hailed The Velvet Underground’s landmark 1967 album ‘The Velvet Underground And Nico’ as “the apex of fine art and DIY culture colliding”.
Over the weekend, the ‘Apple’ hitmaker – whose latest album ‘Brat’ dominated pop culture in 2024 with its sickly green cover – was honoured with the Hitmaker Of The Year accolade at Variety’s Hitmakers Brunch in Los Angeles, and she paid a special nod to the legendary Lou Reed-fronted rock group’s iconic LP in her acceptance speech, dubbing it “one of the most influential and groundbreaking records of our time.”
She said onstage: “In March 1967, the Velvet Underground released their album The Velvet Underground And Nico. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at #199. And a few weeks later, it rose to its peak position of 195. But don’t worry, it dropped out, and then it re-entered the charts. And later in life, Lou Reed told Brian Eno that it had only sold around 30,000 copies over its first five years.
“In my humble opinion, this record is the definition of a hit. This record is arguably one of the most influential and groundbreaking records of our time. This album is the apex of fine art and DIY culture colliding. It’s high and low, it’s poetry meets drugs, it’s earnest meets arrogance, and even if you’re never heard a single song from this album, you’ll undoubtedly recognise its cover, either from the walls of a modern art gallery or from the shop floor of an Urban Outfitters. And let’s be real, what is a hit if you’re not conquering both of those places? My album cover has not yet appeared at the Guggenheim or the Whitney or the Tate. However, some of my merch is available to purchase right now in Urban Outfitters. So I guess that means that I’m halfway there. So thank you very much, Variety.”
The 32-year-old pop megastar has made no secret of her love for the late Lou Reed – who died in 2013 at the age of 71 – recently telling Billboard: “I kind of want to make a Lou Reed record, to be honest. That would definitely be a pretty big swing.”