Charli xcx insists not all of her music is her being “ironic” and having “eye-roll” moments as she reflects on the meaning of Rock Music.
The glitchy grunge track left fans divided as it swayed away from Charli’s Brat era and left many confused as to whether she was heading in a rock direction or not.
The 360 singer is known for using irony and exaggerated personas in her work, but she’s been clear that the track isn’t meant as a joke – stressing that it came from a genuine place of enjoying the creative process with her friends.
Charli told BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders in an interview for her Charli XCX: Live At The BBC special: “Obviously I know there are some people who really think I’m just constantly living in an eye roll and being ironic all of the time, and I’m more than happy for people to feel that way.
“But actually [with] this song, it’s obviously like fun and funny, and there are funny elements about it, but when we were making it we were really connecting with each other, and actually the silliness in the song doesn’t necessarily mean that the song is not serious or real.”
Elsewhere, the Boom Clap hitmaker revealed she had an “absolute nightmare” getting the iconic cover art for her latest album Music, Fashion, Film shot in time for the vinyl release.
She told Jack: “I will say it was an absolute nightmare yeah, it was really down to the wire because obviously when you’re printing a vinyl you have to get it ready months in advance.
“So there really is, sorry, boring logistics, a cut-off date where you have to have things done if you want the vinyl to come out on the day the album is released.
“And so we were down to like the day before that deadline and you know they’re busy guys, and we were like if one of them is like, ‘oh actually, sorry, can’t make it today, can you do tomorrow?’, even that slight change would have been quite devastating for us.”
The cover features her music, fashion and film “heroes”, John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese, respectively, and it was an “emotional” experience.
She went on: “My best friend Aiden Zamiri (director) was shooting the photograph, and the three of them arrived and they all separately mean so much to me.
“They are my music, fashion, film (heroes) for a number of reasons, but for me, for this record made the most sense (to have them on the cover).
“And so having them all there and working with them in that capacity, it just felt, I don’t know, it was one of those moments where I was like, ‘this is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime moment this is probably never going to happen again’ unless I do a remix album, no, no that’s probably not happening.
“It was really sweet and overwhelming.”
Charli XCX: Live At The BBC is available to watch on BBC iPlayer with the live performances, recorded at Maida Vale Studios, also available to watch on BBC Music’s YouTube channels.