Last week we rocked up to Cannes to interview Charli XCX on Magnum Beach. It was the morning before she showed up to the Magnum party in a custom Vivienne Westwood corset holding a magnum, a play on Kate Moss's own Magnum moment on the Vivienne Westwood runway for the Spring '94 runway show.
Below, we chat to Charli about her most memorable rave moment with her parents, her favourite club classic, and why she doesn't mind if her next album flops.
What flavour ice cream would Brat be?
I guess if Brat was an ice cream flavour, it would probably be something green: matcha, pistachio, trees, something like that.
What is your most memorable rave moment with your parents?
I mean they used to drive me, it was very sweet actually, they would drive me and hang out until like 6am and then we'd all sort of drive home in the car and have breakfast together when we got home. I mean every memory, how can you forget that, you know, it's kind of crazy.
Who is the person in pop culture that sums up the vibe for Summer 2025?
Summer 2025 — a lot of good contenders but I don't know, it could be an Adison Rae Summer 2025, you know.
Talk us through your fit.
My dress is from I Am Muse, it is kind of warm, you know. These are Chrome Hearts glasses and I love these shoes but I can't remember where they're from.
Can you be a party girl and a lover girl at the same time?
Yeah, you can be a party girl and a lover girl at the same time. I don't really know what a lover girl is, like is that someone who's in love? Maybe, yeah. You can be whatever you want to be simultaneously, you know, multiple personalities, good vibe.
Party 4 u is having a real viral moment right now because of that nostalgic feeling it's giving anyone. How does it make you feel?
It takes me back to the time of the pandemic, really, because that's when I was recording the vocals. It actually started a while before that—the initial idea. But we kind of never—I never really took it anywhere. So, yeah, now when I think of the song, I just think back to five years ago and how different the world was then. We were all inside. No one was hanging out. You know, it was kind of lonely.
What would you say to 15-year-old Charlie if you could see her now?
I'd be like, “hey, don't worry about it. Just do what you think is cool. And that is the coolest thing. And just chill out a bit and don't be so anxious.”
What is a club classic you want to hear when you're going to the clubs today?
A club classic I want to hear today is LMFAO, Party Rock Anthem.
Brat was such a seminal moment, do you feel the pressure to recreate another Zeitgeist-defining album?
I don't really feel the pressure to create another record like Brat because when I was making it, even though I really believed in it and totally knew what I wanted to do with it, I had no idea how it would be received. I was really doing it for myself and marketing it in the way I wanted to for myself but I had no clue that people would kind of connect to it in the way that they did. So yeah, I don't really feel the pressure because I feel that you can never really do the same thing twice and my next record will probably be a flop which I'm down for to be honest.
At Coachella you broke the Brat flag, what summer are you having this year?
Right well I don't know. There's been rumours of Brat Summer 2.0 and that maybe it's just kind of like a lifestyle and I like that theory so yeah I'm gonna go with that for me personally.
Photography by Kiera Simpson for Culted©
Interview conducted by Vivian Osondu
