Jacket , bra and skirt,  Jeremy Scott. Earrings, Laruicci Collection. Ring, Lou Zeldis, available at Love Adorned www.loveadorned.com. Necklace, Michael Spirito available at Love Adorned www.loveadorned.com. Shoes, Missguided black platform leather boots
photographer / Jason Rodgers
stylist / Michael Fisher
story /Erica Russell
hair + makeup / Pascale Poma
Shirt, Katrin Schnabl. Bra,Pins & Needles. Necklace, Charli’s personal. Earrings, Sugar Scout.
When Charli XCX answers her phone, it is mere hours before going on stage at Wembley to open for mega-pop-rock juggernauts Paramore. Conversational and calm, itâs hard to imagine that the 21-year-old is about to perform before a sold-out crowd of over 12,000 in her home country. But then the humanizing excitement bubbles over in her voice. âIâm so excited! Itâs sort of a historical venue, I suppose, isnât it? Iâm kinda freaking out, but itâll go great, Iâm sure,â she laughs.
No stranger to âgirl power,â Charli is thrilled to open for Paramore, fronted by fiery Hayley Williams. âI love Hayley. I think sheâs a great performer. I love going on tour with like, really kick-ass girls. In fact, I just put together a new all-girl band⊠so itâs really getting serious!â
Donât get it twisted, though; the pop starâs new femme-fatale band-mates are less about serving as eye candy and more about serving up some empowerment. âIâve always wanted an all-girl band, and I looked around for the perfect girls. I just want people to see that girls can actually play and be really good [in music].
âIâm really trying to relay that message on my new record,â Charli admits. âI feel like my purpose is to show that girls are massively important. Sometimes we get forgotten about and pushed behind the scenes. People think weâre just a bunch of puppets. I wanted to have a girl band so that I can prove that girls are fucking awesome!â
Of Charliâs female inspirations, Annabella Lwin of post-punk staples Bow Wow Wow has served a huge role in the electro-pop Britâs latest musical incarnation. âI really love âI Want Candy.â Itâs got, like, that upbeat drum beat and that really great rhythm. Annabella is so fantastic,â the raven-haired singer gushes. âSheâs so sexy and just owns it. My new album is going to be like that. Itâs a very feminine album; itâs very sexy. And I feel like thatâs what my new song is about, too.â
Charli is referring to, of course, her kinetic new single, âSuperLove,â an energetic pop banger with zippy synths, a vibrant guitar riff, and infectious, dizzying rhythms that project the butterflies-in-your-tummy elation of crushing hard on a dream-boy. Barely a month after releasing the music video in September, the Ryan Andrews-directed clip has amassed almost half a million views on YouTube.
âWe filmed it in Tokyo in this cool underground robot bar. We originally had wanted [the video] to have more of a David Lynch atmospheric world, but I felt it didnât fit right with the vibe of the song. My friend Georgia had come back from Japan and told me about this amazing futuristic robot bar with colorful lights, and I was like, âWhoah!â Weâd been hoping to do a video in Japan for ages. When we shot, I didnât have time to sleep for days. We got off the plane at 4 a.m. and started shooting at 6 a.m. It was crazy. But it was the best video Iâve ever done.â
In the video, Charli wanders the streets of Tokyo before descending down the stairs of the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku and into a kaleidoscopic neo-future-world of flashing rainbow lights, laser beams, and giant dancing robots. In the end of the clip, she rides off with a Japanese bosozoku biker gang.
âRyan is really into the movie âAkira,ââ she explains. âWe tried really hard to find a biker gang, and we werenât sure if they were going to show up. So weâre on the set of the shoot, waiting, and suddenly we hear a massive engine roar! Over twenty bikers ride up. They were all really nice and really cool. I signed their bikes and helmets, which was really funny!â
Charli XCX isnât ready to ride off into the sunset just yet though. If anything, sheâs just revving up her engine. With her critically acclaimed official debut album only released this past year, sheâs already laying down the foundations for her decidedly âmore popâ sophomore record. âI mean, I havenât written loads. Itâs not even halfway done, but I am in the planning process. I just rented out the recording studio for the songs. Iâve been listening to a lot of Brigitte Bardot and different pop bands and bratty girls⊠Iâm hearing lots of shout-y, brassy melodies. Itâs very riot, which is where Iâm at right now.
âMy last album âTrue Romance,â was purple in color. I see this second record as very red in color. Iâm getting inspired by lipstick stains and red Chanel blazers and vintage Jean Paul Gaultier. I feel like this is the most pop I have ever gone. But who knows? Anything can happen.â