Charli XCX has declared the dance floor “dead” and is shifting to rock music.
The Von Dutch hitmaker’s 2024 LP Brat was a huge hit around the world but she thinks it would have been “really sad” if she’d made another album in the same vein.
Discussing how she knew she wanted “to go to Paris” to work on her eighth LP, she told Britain’s Vogue magazine: “We knew it would be this very hectic, rich time and we like creating in that kind of atmosphere.
“I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music…
““Being out in the world at night, experiencing things as I’m writing, is really helpful to my process.
“If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad,.
“What’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on [rock music] could be.”
The 33-year-old singer finds it exciting to challenge herself by pushing the boundaries of her sound.
She said: “I’ve been making music since I was 14. It’s nearly 20 years. I feel very spoiled saying this, but there is not much that can thrill me within music any more.
“For me, it’s fun to flip the form. We know there’s gonna be people who are bothered by it, but that’s fine.
“I’d always rather have style than be vague. Which is the biggest crime, in my opinion.”
Meanwhile, Charli admitted she a “very traumatic” relationship with live shows and has serious nerve damage in her neck from being on stage.
She said: “Often, to get myself to a place where I feel like I’m giving a good performance, I have to feel a lot of angry feelings, which is not pleasant sometimes.”
And she has hinted she is not keen to undertake another tour of huge venues in the future.
She said: “I never thought I’d play arenas in my life, and who knows if I will again. Maybe I won’t, but after you’ve done a few, you’re like, ‘Oh, this place.’
“It really happens… Well, maybe that’s me revealing something I shouldn’t have revealed.”