Charlie XCX - Sucker

Charli XCX comes to us with impeccable credentials. She was the best thing on Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ (that’s her on the chorus) and authored Icona Pop’s mega smash ‘I Love It’. In both cases, she demonstrated a flair for slick, propulsive pop – bubblegum blended with titanium.
So it is a disappointment to report her third album – understandably preceded by a fair degree of expectation – displays little of the nous she has exhibited in her collaborations. Instead, it is a bratty, retrograde affair which may prompt flashbacks to pre-Spice Girls novelties such as Shampoo. Yes, it’s that underwhelming.
The problem isn’t Charli’s writing so much as her embrace of trashy punk arrangements that would not have felt out of place on a Sultans of Ping studio outtake. All too typical is the clunking, histrionic ‘Break The Rules’, every bit as toe-curling as you would expect of a song in which the chorus goes “I don’t want to go to school, I just want to break the rules”.
There’s lots of bragging, little of it endearing. On ‘London Queen’, for instance, she boasts of swapping the UK for the west coast of the United States, as if she were the first Brit to enjoy success across the Atlantic.
When writing for others Charli XCX displays an innate understanding that, for maximum impact, sometimes it’s better to lean back rather than push yourself in people’s faces. Perhaps anxiety and shaky confidence have persuaded her that, when hers is the name up in lights, the opposite strategy is smartest.
That’s a shame – there are flashes of guile and wit throughout and some of her lyrics are guffaw-out-loud funny. “Breaking up is easy with you,” she sings on ‘Breaking Up’. “I hate your friends and your family too”. It’s a great moment – Sucker could have done with a lot more like it.

Key Track - 'Breaking Up'