'Stop seeing the word woman as a weakness': Charli XCX on the meaning of International Women's Day

Charli XCX has shared a post outlining what International Women's Day means to her, expressing how her gender comes after her ability as an artist in terms of importance.

"I'm a woman and that's strong and powerful, but I'm a million other things before that. I'm a smart musician, songwriter, and entrepreneur, and I also happen to be a woman," Charli wrote on Twitter.

"Being a woman can span anything and everything: Women do not have to be feminine, women do not have to be quiet, women don't have to want to be mothers, women don't have to be born with XX chromosomes."

"International Women's Day is a great opportunity to spark thoughts and conversations, but every year I think, don't give us a day, give us a lifetime of equal opportunities and choice, and recognise that any choice we make needs to be OUR choice, made from our hearts, our minds and our bodies," the artist added.

"Start considering us for what we do and the level we do it at and stop seeing the word woman as a weakness."

Read Charli XCX's full post below:

Happy International Women’s Day pic.twitter.com/YwWnIt4Shv

— Charli (@charli_xcx) March 8, 2021

Charli released a collaborative single with The 1975 and No Rome last week, titled 'Spinning'. Teasing a Dirty Hit label "supergroup" in the weeks preceding the single on Twitter, anticipation was high for the track. The singer-songwriter's new documentary Alone Together is also set to premiere at the upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival on March 18. The film chronicles the making of Charli's 2020 lockdown album How I’m Feeling Now.

Ingrid Angulo described the landmark album in her Hot Press review, writing:

"Charli XCX clearly knows how to make a pop record that sounds original - look no further than her last two records for the big, borderline chaotic sound she's perfected. But How I'm Feeling Now stands out so distinctly from the rest, both sonically and lyrically. The way she's been able to foster such seamless collaboration, both with fellow producers/musicians and her tight-knit community of fans, also speaks to the new ways to create music for a brand-new decade. It's not just a unique experiment in her discography, but a record that will be looked at for years to come as a zeitgeist of 2020."

Alone Together, produced by Charli with Snoot Entertainment and Dangerous Baby Productions, marks the feature-length directorial debut from veteran music video directors Bradley&Pablo. The pair have previously worked with Harry Styles, Rosalia and Lil Nas X.

“The documentary tells the story of not only the five-week process surrounding the making of my album, How I’m Feeling Now, but also all the emotions that creating, connecting and living in a quarantine and in basically a new world evokes for people across the globe,” Charli wrote on Instagram.

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