A Brief History of Charli XCX’s Songwriting

Image via Complex Original

Born in Cambridge and raised in Bishop’s Stortford, Charli began writing songs at age 14, uploading demos to her Myspace and often performing them at warehouse raves in London (sometimes escorted by her parents). The rave scene inspired her first two singles, “!Franchesckaar!” and double A-side “Emelline/Art Bitch,” released in 2008. Charli signed to Asylum Records in 2010, and over the next few years she released a stream of critically acclaimed singles (“Stay Away” and “Nuclear Seasons,” both of which were co-written with frequent collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid) and free mixtapes. By the time she released her debut EP, You’re the One, in 2012, she was only 20 but already had six years of songwriting under her belt.

Swedish duo Icona Pop’s “I Love It” dominated 2012 and beyond. The single was all over TV (it was covered by Glee, used as the theme song for Jersey Shore spin-off Snooki & JWoww, and soundtracked a party scene in Girls). It reached the top 10 in 18 countries and was ultimately certified double-platinum in the U.S. Charli received a feature credit for singing on its chorus, but it goes deeper—she wrote the song alongside frequent collaborator Patrik Berger, allegedly finishing the lyrics in about 30 minutes flat. It was Charli’s big break, and she doesn’t regret giving the song to Icona Pop instead of keeping it for herself. As she told Complex in a 2013 interview: “It wasn’t right for me…. They put a twist on it that I don’t think I could have if it was my record.”

In the year following “I Love It,” Charli released her debut album, True Romance, via Asylum and Atlantic Records, and signed a publishing deal with Swedish production team Stargate’s Sony/ATV imprint, Stellar Sounds. Still, she describes feeling frustrated with major label demands regarding hit-making, telling Digital Spy: “I just felt like I was being asked to replicate ‘I Love It’ over and over again for myself and for other people.… Also through that song I began to experience how people change after a song is successful, and I guess I’ve just never been exposed to that before.” In the spring of 2013, she headed out on tour with Marina & the Diamonds, another British singer/songwriter insistent on doing pop her own way. To celebrate, the two released “Just Desserts,” on which they share vocals and songwriting credits.

Around the same time that “Just Desserts” dropped, Charli lent her writing skills to “Smile,” a cut off of U.K. producer and dubstep pioneer Benga’s major label debut, Chapter II. While her vocal contributions to the track went uncredited on the album, she is credited as one of the song’s composers. Though less overtly radio-friendly than “I Love It,” the track still felt true to Charli’s signature breed of ballsy, slightly twisted pop bangers, harkening back to earlier electronic collaborations like “Lost in Space” with dubstep producer Starkey and “End of the World” with British electro-pop producer Alex Metric.

In early 2014, Charli co-wrote and provided the hook for “Fancy,” the fourth single from Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic album. The rest is history, as the song surpassed “I Love It” for the biggest look of Charli’s career, spending seven consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In a Billboard interview, Charli described her differing relationships to her two massive hits: “With ‘I Love It,’ there was never really a plan for me to go and write for Icona Pop—they were just there and it happened, and no one really knew what was going on…. I never really felt like it was my song. With Iggy, it’s been the flip side of that…. From the start Iggy has been like, ‘This is your song as well as my song.’ I feel valued.” Charli and Iggy’s hit-making chemistry didn’t end there. Charli also has co-writing credits on “Beg for It,” Iggy’s latest single, which will be featured on the reissue of The New Classic due out later this month. Charli initially provided the vocals for the song’s hook, though the final version features Swedish singer MØ instead. (You can hear the original version here.)

Not content with penning just one summer anthem, Charli excitedly announced her contributions to rising singer-songwriter Ryn Weaver’s single “OctaHate” in June, along with an all-star team of co-writers, including Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, and Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos. Following her tweet, the song rocketed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Twitter-based Emerging Artists chart. It’s a breezy, bouncy indie pop jam that’s right in line with Charli’s super-catchy songwriting style. Weaver has described Charli as something of a mentor, and the two are reportedly at work on another “top-secret” project together; in a recent Billboard profile, Weaver hints: “It’s someone else’s album who’s a very sassy lady. That’s all I can say.”

Keeping up with her long-running streak of fiery girl-power collaborations (after all she frequently cites the Spice Girls as one of her biggest inspirations), Charli announced over the summer that she helped write “So Alive,” a track from British four-piece electro-pop group Neon Jungle’s debut album, Welcome to the Jungle. It was a club-type vibe for Charli, with its massive EDM builds and drops, but the hook is pure Charli pop: soaring, dramatic, and instantly shout-worthy.

You already know “Boom Clap,” the lead single from the soundtrack for summer blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars (which Charli called a “full-on, amazing cry fest”). It’s by far the biggest solo release of Charli’s career: her second song to reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and her first song on the charts as the lead artist. What you may not know is that Charli originally wrote it (along with Patrik Berger) for placement on Hilary Duff’s forthcoming comeback album, and only made it her own song after it was rejected.

“My number one project as a songwriter is to write for Hilary Duff,” Charli told MTV UK this summer. “We sent over ‘Boom Clap’ but they came back and were like, ‘This isn’t cool enough for Hilary.’ I was like, crushed…. What a life-ruiner.” Turns out that Duff missed the memo, and says she would’ve taken the song if she had known about it. “I didn’t know that I had an option to have it,” Duff told Popjustice. “It’s my favorite song on the radio right now. If she wants to give it to me now, I’ll still take it!” Her loss is Charli’s gain. The song has over a million digital sales and will reappear on her third album, Sucker (out Dec. 16).

Over the past couple of years, Charli has been enlisted on multiple occasions to write songs for pop mega-stars, though not all of her contributions ended up being used. In August 2013, she announced that she was asked to contribute to Britney Spear’s Britney Jean album. “I was freaking out,” she told Digital Spy. “I didn’t even want to go to the session I was so excited…. Who knows how it will go. We’ve written one song, and it’s a great track.” Though the pairing seemed like a match made in pop heaven, the song was eventually rejected. Early this year, Charli referenced that she’d written a song for Rita Ora as well, though it doesn’t seem to have materialized. One has to imagine that Spears and Ora will both be kicking themselves at some point in the near future.

Even after having some high-profile collaborations turned down, Charli has showed no signs of slowing down, even as she preps Sucker for release. In her recent Billboard cover story, she revealed that she’s been recruited to write songs for Rihanna and Gwen Stefani. Charli also has writing credits on the forthcoming Jersey EP from singer and ex-Disney star Bella Thorne, which is set for release later this month. Fellow DIY pop songstress Sky Ferreira, with whom Charli has performed before, announced this fall that the two had written a song together that’s currently unreleased but is promised to sound “very TATU.” On top of all that, she’s set to open for the U.K. leg of Katy Perry’s Prismatic World Tour in January. Needless to say, you should get used to seeing Charli’s name, whether it’s as the featured artist or behind the scenes.