Marisa Ferreira
Charlie XCX’s new album “How I’m Feeling Now” is a spin of innovative and futuristic-pop that is a relatable take on her perspective during COVID-19.
The new album takes on a futuristic techno style of pop which strays from her normal genre production of pop music. The album is considerably weaker than some of her previous albums. However, the 27-year-old did bring in BJ Burton as a collaborator giving it some strong points.
Being made throughout the pandemic outbreak, “How I’m Feeling Now”, the eleven songs on the album are formatted in a looser, more experimental style that explains Charlie XCX’s new take on pop music within this album. Charlie XCX gave the album a style that suggests each song is a short story to be told. In doing this she made her lyrics very true to who she is and expresses her opinion on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Charlie’s fame rose from her single “Boom Clap” which blew up in 2014, and she has released four albums since. On behalf of Charlie’s music, she has also done record producing and music video directing, playing a major role in the production of her own album especially considering the phenomenal songwriting in the album.
The new style of Charlie’s music is interesting in the sense that it is produced very well but it can also have the effect that all the songs on her album sound the same. This new-found sound of Charlie’s can either make or break her career.
Charlie XCX wrote this album centralized around immense anxiety, body image, and ravenous yearning which is important for her listeners to hear about and relate to. Charlie XCX starts the album off with the song “Pink Diamond” about wanting to go out and party hard but being stuck at home on video chat which she makes very relatable considering the COVID-19 circumstances. The best song on the album “Enemy” was based on her relationship with her boyfriend. She said that in making the song she kept in mind “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.
Just in these two songs, the lyrics and storytelling become somewhat relevant to life and give a strong connection to what she is feeling, making her album even better.
Charlie XCX’s album was compliant in exploring Charlie’s production of music. She took her songwriting and production skills to another level by creating each song into a different story with different meanings. She creates a specific tone in her work through her lyrics and production as well. Through her great storytelling, she uses words and messages that are artistically spoken in the song outside of the lyrics. There are little snippets in each song where you can hear her new alternate style through the extra production using interesting sounds and short phrases. This creates a tone of safety or as she calls it “The feeling of listening to music in your bed”. There is a strong tone of melancholy in the lyrics but is overtaken by feminism and confidence making it all the more interesting to listen to.
Charlie XCX takes a new perspective with her strong versus alone. She uses many explicit words to get through to her storytelling. At first, the lyrics can seem a bit trashy, but with thought, they become a stronger meaning. In all eleven songs, she transforms her messages and stories with genius lyrics that take a higher quality than the rest of her albums. These good quality lyrics are what make the album as great as it is.
In the album, she makes it clear that she wants to give off clear and harsh messages. Most of these messages come from her personal life experiences such as body image, overwhelming anxiety, and suicidal tendencies making the album relatable for people who struggle with the same tendencies. She talks about a lot of her relationships in most of these songs but also says many universal statements that are advisory to many people. For example, in her song “Forever” she has a line that says “You take your time, I’ll take mine, we’ll be fine”. She gives strong lines like these in her songs that are subtle reminders to just slow down especially in this pandemic. In comparison to her other albums, this album speaks the most to get thoughtful messages across to her listeners.
Overall, “How I’m Feeling Now” was worth the listen although it was one of the lesser made albums of Charlie’s career. All eleven songs on the album have strong messages and are easy to connect with, making the album notable.
“How I’m Feeling Now” was released on May 15. The album is available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube and can be purchased on platforms such as iTunes.
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