YMMV / Charli XCX

• Broken Base:
  • Given that they're both different arrangements of the same basic song and each released for different projects, fans are split as to which version of "Blame It On Your Love" is superior — the more experimental, avant-pop "Track 10", or the more bubbly and commercial-oriented "Blame It On Your Love".
  • "Unlock It" has a really contentious reputation among dedicated fans almost entirely because of Jay Park's rap verse, which seems to be split very cleanly between "completely kills the flow" and "is integral to the song's full charm" with almost nothing in between.
  • CRASH, while doing well commercially and critically, ended up dividing fans due to Charli's shift away from the experimental hyperpop sound she defined herself on into vastly more conventional 80's dance pop. Some were disappointed by the lack of creative risk and felt Charli was watering down the modern-to-futuristic sounds that made her a critical darling, others saw it as simply a well-executed take on the nostalgic pop Charli wanted to make that highlights her raw songwriting skills. Some of this schism is rooted in a Old Guard Versus New Blood divide, as detractors of the album tend to be those who began following Charli following Vroom Vroom and the start of her foray into hyperpop, while fans of the album were also big fans of her earlier, similarly more traditional work such as True Romance (Charli even admitted before release that CRASH was made for "the True Romance angels").
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Many would say that she's the only reason Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" was enjoyable.
  • An example of applying to an individual song, "Taxi" has only been played in a handful of live shows since 2016, and aside from a few illegitimate online leaks of high-quality demos, there's no official release in sight. Due to it being swept up in the XCX World content leaks, as well as its very direct connection to its late producer, SOPHIE, Charli feels very strongly on laying it to rest, but despite this, the song's been almost deified as one of Charli's best, with Angels remaining hopeful that one day, a legitimate release will see the light of day.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Don't call her "Charlie XCX" unless you want to be laughed at.
• Fandom Rivalry: An alleged dispute between Charli and Rina Sawayama caused this between the two pop stars' fans. (And even non-fans were picking sides.) Amid the controversy, Charli quickly posted that she and Sawayama had made up and it was just a "disagreement between friends."
• Growing the Beard: Charli's always had a strong audience, but True Romance and Sucker netted Charli a mostly lukewarm response from critics, who at the time considered her a solid, if typical Pop Punk artist. However, once she began dabbling with more experimental, futuristic pop along the lines of SOPHIE and PC Music (firmly established by Vroom Vroom), critical favor really kicked into high gear, with many championing her as representing the future of pop music, or at least a future for it.
• LGBT Fanbase: Charli is a vibrant, fun, and proudly fanservice-y popstar with nothing but loving things to say for her LGBTQ+ fanbase and fellow creators, so it's no surprise that they love her back in turn.
  Charli: (holding a bottle of poppers) Gay rights!
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The hacking of her Google Drive around 2016 resulted in a constant drip feed of leaked music for the next 3 years and an equally large number of fandom in-jokes about it. The jokes died down somewhat after Charli revealed how deeply hurt she was by the leaks, but not completely.
    Fan: (on a Facebook livestream) What's your Google Drive password?
    Charli: (Flipping the Bird) Fuck you.
  • Many fans have made Charli sign some pretty ridiculous items. Images of her signing bottles of poppers, anal douches, and even the ashes of one fan’s deceased family member consistently make their rounds on social media.
  • Charli's love of cars and making songs about them is a well-known habit among fans, with a common sentiment being "Any time Charli makes a song about cars, you know it's gonna be a banger."
  • Building on the previous one, fans have synthesised the lyrical content of Charli's entire body of work in two categories: either "I'm a broken person who pushes all of her lovers away", or "I'm in a fast car".
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "pink diamond" amps up the distorted, jarring aspects of her typical hyperpop sound and becomes something genuinely frightening, featuring dissonant, claustrophobic synths and maddening vocal hooks that sound like something coming from an actual nightmare. It's the first track off how i'm feeling now, and given how the album encapsulates her feelings during the COVID-19 Pandemic, it seems like a recreation of the sheer chaos and paranoid confusion of entering a very dark time for the world.
  • The album cover for the Deluxe edition for CRASH is....quite unsettling to say the least.
• Signature Song: Due to having two very distinct eras for her career, she has a handful of examples:
  • Among mainstream audiences, "Boom Clap" is her signature tune as it's by far her biggest (and if you're counting solo releases, only) major radio hit. However, Charli rarely performs it live and doesn't appear to care for it (what with it sounding so unlike a lot of her catalogue), and she instead places "I Love It" with her and Icona Pop as her signature "mainstream breakthrough" song, and more eagerly plays it as an encore.
  • Among her post-hyperpop audience, this honor goes very definitively to "Vroom Vroom".
• Tear Jerker:
  • "Lucky" is a simple, but incredibly heartbreaking Break-Up Song, amplified by the Auto-Tune gradually escalating her vocals into a beautifully digitized high.
    So, can I ask you a question?
    Do you ever feel guilt for what you've done?
    Call you, you got no reception, you're brea—ea—kin' up
    Tell you I believe you, but I don't
  • "party 4 u" at first appears to be one of Charli's usual celebrations of partying, but it takes a bittersweet, if not outright depressing turn as it becomes clear that the person she's throwing it for not only didn't show up, but doesn't reciprocate her feelings. With the song's official release in the lockdown-themed how i'm feeling now, it takes on an additional bit of somber subtext.

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