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Daily Record
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Charli XCX fans raging over 'atrocious' lack of one thing from her Glastonbury set
Charli XCX took to the stage to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival last night, Saturday June 28. Charli XCX stunned Glastonbury crowds with her headline slot last night, but fans are fuming over one vital element missing from her performance. The British pop sensation began sharing music on MySpace in 2008, and swiftly became a staple of London rave culture. Charli XCX hit number one in the UK charts in 2012 with Icona Pop collaboration 'I Love It', and her success soared following the hit 'Fancy' with Iggy Azalea in 2014. But last year, Charli rose to complete global stardom with her hit album Brat. The record topped the charts in the UK, Ireland, and Australia, and made an impressive debut at number three on the Billboard 200. Charli's 2024 album also led to eight Grammy nominations at the 67th annual awards, including Album of the Year. She bagged three wins - Best Dance Pop Recording for "Von Dutch", Best Dance/Electronic Album, and Best Recording Package. Charli's fiancé, George Daniel of The 1975, who also topped the bill at Glasto on Friday, was amongst the excited festival-goers. The excitement buzzed amid speculation that Lorde would grace the stage with Charli to perform their collaboration 'Girl, so confusing' , reports the Manchester Evening News. But Lorde's surprise gig at Woodies Stage at 11.30am meant she didn't join Charli XCX, leading to some disappointed fans voicing their feelings online. On X, @ctphonehomee expressed dismay: "So lorde not being here is atrocious??" and @V4MPIRESHAWTY queried: "WHERE IS LORDE". One fan, @begforloves, expressed their surprise: "Now why would Lorde not be there", while @mattyscruff chimed in with: "not the crowd screaming bc they assumed lorde was coming out". @allyallonsy01 echoed the sentiment, stating: "I was hoping lorde was gonna come out". Lorde and Charli XCX broke the internet when the long feuding stars decided to work out their differenced through the song 'Girl, so confusing' which tackles the complexities of female friendship and girlhood. Despite Lorde's disappointing absence from her set, the Glastonbury crowds lapped up the star's energetic performance. But some viewers at home accused Charli of miming rather than singing live. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. One user fumed: "Oh ffs can't watch Scissor Sisters and Charli XCX is bloody dreadful. Could literally be any random person miming. WTF for a Glastonbury Saturday night, disappointing." Another added: "Predictable but shame nonetheless that charli xcx can't sing live #Glastonbury2025 #charlixcx FAKE." And a third said: "Charli xcx Embarressing [sic]that, turning up to walk around stage pretending to sing…" Charli has graced several festival stages already this year, including Coachella, Primavera Barcelona and Primavera Porto. Lorde has also been busy, having released new album Virgin on June 27. This marks Lorde's first new album since the release of Solar Power in 2021.
The Spinoff
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Our first reactions to Virgin, Lorde's brand new album
The Spinoff writers share their thoughts on Lorde's fourth album. After returning from her typical four-year hiatus with a series of thrilling pop-ups, including one in the YMCA bathrooms in central Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand pop star Lorde released her fourth album Virgin at midnight last night. With an icy blue cover depicting an X-ray of the singer's own pelvis, the album has brought with it much fan speculation. Will it be even more revealing than her verse in 'girl, so confusing'? Will it be a return to the Melodrama era? And why, oh why, is there a Baby Bash credit? We took a long, hard listen overnight to bring you these findings. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith My virgin Virgin listen was exactly as God intended: alone in my bedroom with the lights off waiting for the midnight release. This is a good nighttime album in the sense that there's an equal number of songs to cry (in a Melodrama way) and dance (in a kind-of Brat way) to – but mostly this is the kind of album that will make you hope the next drug the Act Party makes available over the counter is ketamine. How will Virgin rank in the overall Lorde discography? It's definitely above Solar Power and hitting a sweet spot between Melodrama and Pure Heroine. She's showing off her vocals a bit more, but also really nailing that David Byrne thing of treating lyrical delivery like spoken word that can puncture a melody, rather than flow with it (which kind-of irked me in 'GRWM' and 'Shapeshifter' at first, but now it's very much grown on me). There's a lot of lyrics in this which could work like cryptic Instagram posts ('2009 me'd be so impressed') or something I'd write in my diary if I was crashing out ('if I had virginity, I would have given that too'). And production-wise, Virgin is pretty stripped back, which might be hard for the 'Supercut' and 'Hard Feelings/Loveless' heads. Lorde told us this album would feel like shotgunning a Red Bull and kissing someone you really like, and given the album's runtime and lyrical content, yes, exactly that. 'Clearblue' feels like a new career all-timer for her – a song about wishing you kept the pregnancy test from your last relationship as a memento is exactly what I want to hear from Lorde's ovulation album, and 'your metal detector hits my precious treasure' is my favourite line at the moment. I'll be ready to discuss 'David' after a few more therapy sessions. Mad Chapman In a beautiful and completely coincidental turn of events, I listened to Lorde's new album in full the minute it was released, while riding a city bike around the waterfront in Singapore. I managed two full listens through before dragging my clammy self back to the hotel. My first thought: I wish it was longer. At 34 minutes it ends before it's really begun. But where albums often fall over by not living up to their pre-release singles, Virgin feels like the inverse. 'Favourite Daughter' and 'Current Affairs' are like therapy, and 'David' will likely have the longest shelf life. Lyrically, welcome back to the poet Lorde. Production-wise, I had hoped for a bit more experimenting, though there's a safety (as a listener) in dropping straight back into the melodies and moods we recognise. The final moments of 'David' are thrilling and felt like she was about to dive into something new and then bam, the album is over. Wanted more, enjoyed what I got. P.S. Has Lorde ever made a joke in a song? Because I laughed out loud at the 'Suga Suga' reference. Gabi Lardies Wow not fair guys, I listened to Virgin through headphones in the corner of the lunch-room while being assaulted by the smell of my colleagues' morning eggs. I also encountered some technical difficulties [ads interrupting the flow] due to recently having cancelled my Spotify subscription. I am still trying to figure out an alternative, recommendations welcome. It was during the third song, 'Shapeshifter', that I thought 'ahhhh I know what this is' – bedroom pop, albeit made by one of the biggest pop stars in the world and certainly not lo-fi. These songs, entirely constructed of Ella Yelich-O'Connor's voice and electronic melodies and instruments, are introspective, intimate, nostalgic and sometimes dreamy. Though they're a million miles off Solar Power, they don't hit those party highs of Melodrama. There were moments, particularly in 'Clearblue', when I was reminded of Kody Nielson's Silicon project, and other moments where I thought of Pickle Darling. This is a perfect winter album, something to curl up with on a cold night alone. The lyrics are easy to relate to [it's a break up album too] and it's nice to have some pop for introverts. Alex Casey As Lorde has established herself, this album is probably best enjoyed in a subterranean carpark or a grimy toilet block, alas my first Virgin listen was while doing the damn dishes and making myself a damn omelette before work this morning (as a wise woman once said: vine hanging over the door, dog who comes when I call etc etc etc). Nonetheless, the first three tracks lifted me out of chilly Christchurch suburbia to a place much more thrilling, sweaty, and industrial. She doesn't want us to take our time and bliss out in the sun anymore, but absolutely ping out with urgency under the blue lights. I saw Lorde say in an interview recently that she was put here to make bangers, but that doesn't mean that these songs are all feel-good euphoria. 'Favourite Daughter' is my immediate favourite, a soaring release of a pop song that also fucked me up so insanely hard that I was in tears by the last line. Mum stuff, my god. The whole run through 'Man of Year' to 'Favourite Daughter' to 'Current Affairs' to 'Clearblue' is a powerful Mount Rushmore of knotty unspoken women's shit, confirming suspicions that 'girl so confusing' was just the tip of a very gnarly iceberg. Also the line from 'Suga Suga' – 'Got me lifted, feeling so gifted' – in 'If She Could See Me Now' is the 'Can I kick it? Yeah, I can' from 'Solar Power' and I love it. Not just because I am fuelled almost entirely by early 2000s popular culture references, but because it brought back a vulnerable memory I have long tried to bury. Sometime in 2016, a bunch of us journalist freaks and Lorde, somehow, were on a cursed van ride home from a boozy media schmooze-fest. She had control of the aux cord (rightly so) and I bellowed 'play Baby Bash!!!!' at her in a sav-fuelled fugue state. The look on her face has haunted me ever since, but hearing this lyric on Virgin makes me think that maybe she didn't hate the suggestion as much as I have assumed she did for the last near-decade. That's healing, that's growth… that's Virgin.
Cosmopolitan
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Marina Squashes Charli XCX Beef, Says She 'Fully Deserves' Success
According to Marina Diamandis—aka MARINA—Charli XCX has worked it out on the remix in more ways than one. During a recent interview with Rolling Stone ahead of her album PRINCESS OF POWER's release on June 6, the 'Butterfly' singer revealed that any old beef between her and Charli has officially been squashed. When Charli and Lorde worked their complications out on the remix of 'Girl, so confusing' last summer, it struck a chord with Marina. She sent Charli a message on social media and admitted that the 'courageous' track made her cry amid their own falling out, which marked a moment of reconciliation between the artists. 'I think these moments are important. It was sweet to see people respond to that,' Marina told Rolling Stone. 'I love her work and it's so inspiring to see what she did with Brat. She just fully deserves it.' In case you need a refresher, the two Britpop darlings ran Tumblr back in the day thanks to the visual aesthetics brought forth by their True Romance and Electra Heart eras. The artists even toured together during the blogging site's prime in 2013. A few years later, they had a public falling out when MARINA called Charli out for participating in a photo shoot with a concept similar to her album art for her 2015 single 'Immortal,' which featured greenery and neon-colored fruit. At the time, she posted a social status, writing, 'Imagery is artistic property. Please respect your fellow artists.' The '360' hitmaker responded and sent 'positive vibes' along with her official statement, which reportedly read, 'You know what, sometimes you do a photoshoot standing in front of a plant, sometimes you do a photoshoot in black and white, sometimes you wear purple eyeshadow. Sometimes you shoot with the same photographer a fellow artist has shot with. That's just how things happen in the industry I work in. What was I supposed to do? Shoot it in the snow!?' Per Entertainment Weekly, MARINA also referenced her album FROOT when she commented on photographer Charlotte Rutherford's photo of Charli: 'That FROOT looks familiar!' The quote eventually became an inside joke across both fan bases over the years, and in 2023, Charli revealed that she and MARINA weren't friends on her private Instagram account, @brat_360. 'It's not like DEEP or anything, there's no negativity in my opinion, our worlds just don't cross. I will say I DID feel negatively years later because I just felt like I really looked up to her and almost saw her as a role model in a way, and when she publicly put me on blast via subtweet I was honestly really hurt and upset and confused and all the fans were coming for me and everything,' she wrote at the time. She continued, 'And I just thought we were friends so maybe she could have like, texted me or something ? So I just felt like she knew she was sending people to 'get me' online and as someone I looked up to I just thought that was really a mean thing to do at the time. Now I'm just like lol the whole thing is so funny like as if there was a beef over lemons. Pahaahha.' Now that things are good between the girlies, let this serve as a reminder that we can all listen to their 2013 collab 'Just Desserts' free of guilt. You're welcome for this treat:
News18
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Lorde Credits Charli XCX For Helping Her Embrace ‘Very Naked' Writing On Album Virgin
Last Updated: Lorde had collaborated with Charli XCX on the song Girl, so confusing from the album Brat. Lorde is set to release her first album in four years, titled Virgin, and the announcement has fans buzzing with excitement. The singer recently revealed a major influence behind the upcoming album, fellow pop star Charli XCX, known for her bold and edgy sound. In a recent conversation with BBC Radio 1, Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) shared how her collaboration with Charli on the remix of Girl, so confusing played a pivotal role in shaping Virgin. The original track, featured on Charli's album Brat, explores the complicated emotions she once felt towards Lorde. 'Brat coming out really gave me a kick in a lot of ways. It forced me to further define what I was doing because Charli had so masterfully defined everything about Brat, and I knew that what I was doing was very distinct to that," Lorde told host Jack Saunders. 'When a peer throws the gauntlet down like that, you're like 'Okay, yeah, we've gotta pick it up'. I've spoken to a lot of peers who've all had the same feelings. It's very sick and I'm so grateful to her," she continued. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lorde (@lorde) Lorde shared that she had been writing 'in this very naked way" and said that working on the remix with Charli helped her stay on that honest and open path. 'Brat came out and she was doing that from the other side of the coin almost and doing the remix together and meeting her in that place of rugged vulnerability and cracking open the thing. People responded really well to that – I was like 'Okay, cool, this is a good thing to be doing'," she said. In May last year, Charli XCX, in an interview with Rolling Stone UK, said, 'I was super jealous of the success that ['Royals'] got, and that Ella got," she said. Charli even reached out to her before Brat released, unsure how Lorde would react. But by then, Lorde already knew which track was about her. 'She was like, 'I can guess which one it is.' And so I was like, 'F***.' But she was so cool, and I was like… We sent these voice notes back and forth," Charli later told Apple Music 1. According to Charli, the remix was Lorde's idea from the start. 'She was like, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I did this response?' And I was like, 'Oh, my God. I can't believe this is happening. Yes.' And it was so quick," Charli told Zane Lowe. 'I mean, she said that on I think the Friday, and she sent me the thing, the verse by Monday," she added. Talking about the album, Lorde revealed Virgin on April 30 through an Instagram post. The cover shows a pelvic X-ray with a zipper and belt buckle. She just captioned it: 'Virgin." The album will be out on June 27. First Published:
The Spinoff
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Our piping hot first reactions to Lorde's brand new single ‘What Was That'
After a nearly four year hiatus, New Zealand's premiere popstar is back with a brand new single. It's been a thrilling few weeks of breadcrumbing for Lorde fans, as the New Zealand popstar has been teasing her return to the zeitgeist through mysterious silver duct tape on her shoes, rainbow water bottles and long-winded voice notes. Having not released any music since Solar Power in 2021, aside from her bitch-walk remix of Charli XCX's 'girl, so confusing', Lorde has stayed out of the limelight, dropping in only for the occasional cryptic post or newsletter. Today, that all ends. At 4pm Friday NZT she released her brand new single 'What Was That', and here are our piping hot reactions. Madeleine Chapman Disclaimer: My excitement for this single, which reached its peak immediately after the strutting TikTok teaser of two weeks ago, dipped significantly yesterday after watching a video of Lorde 'performing' the full song in Washington Square Park. After teasing an appearance that then was shut down by police before she'd even arrived, I thought Lorde was a genius. Thousands of people flocked to the park, posted about the new single, and thanks to police intervention, there were news write ups about it. Meanwhile, producer Dev Hynes (himself a revered musician) walked through the park with a speaker, playing the song as fans danced. What a smart and effective marketing move, I thought, and all the while she never had to appear. Then she actually showed up! And didn't perform the song but played it and danced to it while fans watched??? It catapulted me back to the 'shhhh' clips from the Melodrama tour and made me nervous for some reason. HUGE AND IMMEDIATE CORRECTION: Egg immediately on my face because I wrote that half an hour ago and Lorde's lip syncing at the park is in fact a stunning, Truman Show twist to end the music video. The music video really makes it, in my humble opinion. I am too ignorant about sound production to say more than 'I like this' when listening alone but I'm very into the handycam, early Youtube look of her music video. Big budgets are out (for many reasons) and cheapo aesthetics are in. She hasn't gone that way before – even her early music videos were sleek and narrative. But walking and cycling through rainy New York and then lip syncing to your own song with fans in some sort of Lordeception grotty home video? Yes. This album is going to be the messy break up album of our dreams. Also a testament to how hectic and fast-moving you have to be to get any publicity traction these days (sad). Releasing pop music after brat summer must be terrifying for every marketing department at every label but so far so fresh from Lorde. We're gonna be seeing a lot of electrical tape on Doc Martens (we love an affordable trend) and a real 'who gives a shit' attitude which is frankly appropriate. I can't wait to be shoulder checked by the skinniest young women in Auckland while trying to get a Sal's pizza on K Road. On to the actual song, I am a child of the 'hey!' era so you know I'm absolutely frothing the random shouts in this one. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith Who amongst us hasn't done MDMA with a dude they really liked, kissed for hours and thought 'this is the best cigarette of my life' … (not I, for legal reasons). Drugs in the back garden, blown up pupils, moving through a veil of smoke – I fear Lorde is officially so, so, so back, and without a Jack Antonoff credit, you're reminded this has always been her sound. I love Lorde because she always meets me where I'm at, and God can I relate to thinking 'what was that?' after having your heart completely ripped apart. I hope the return to her Melodrama era (this vibes like a sad 'Supercut' and a more dismissive 'Hard Feelings', and Melodrama was supposed to be her MDMA album) wasn't inspired by the Solar Power fallout, because I stand 10 toes down on that being a perfect record. But Melodrama was masterful, and a sad club banger (see: Charli XCX's 'party 4 u' and Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own') is always welcomed by the youth, especially post-Brat summer. According to my calendar, we are now officially in Lorde autumn, and I look forward to blasting this song through my headphones on the solo Uber ride home from the bar where the dude you really hoped would show up, didn't. Alex Casey Okay, I listened to the song twice and my heart was instantly hurting. The departure from the easy breezy 'I'm kinda like a prettier Jesus' confidence of Solar Power to this poor dear covering up the mirrors – 'I can't see myself yet' – is genuinely crushing, and those moments of pin drop silence between 'I'm missing you… I'm missing you' speak loudly of a heart split clean in two. When the chorus thumps in and hurtles us back to the memories of MDMA in the back garden etc, I was thinking a lot about the wild and fluorescent vignettes of 'Supercut'. It was on my third listen when I realised there was a also fucking MUSIC VIDEO and my brain leaked out my ears. Aside from the thrillingly fast 48 hour film competition turnover from Lorde's drone department here, this is such an interesting spiritual sequel to the 'Green Light' video (if we're considering this break-up album Melodrama II, which we are). Both show her traipsing through New York City in a state of heartbreak, but 'What Was That' feels less cinematic so much more raw, a pain that runs as deep and toxic as an actual literal sewer that she crawls out of. But where 'Green Light' ends with Lorde alone on a bridge, possibly at dusk but more likely at dawn, 'What Was That' concludes with her belting the already-viral hammer of the song – 'when I was 17, I gave you everything, now we wake from a dream, well baby what was that' – late at night with a crowd of thousands of fellow New Yorkers who have spontaneously gathered to see her. Whatever is coming next, she's got a bloody army behind her, and I for one will be physically restraining myself from purchasing a Lorde theme charm belt when they become available. Gabi Lardies An uplifting coming-of-age pop song! Lorde has given the world just what we need, a bit of reminiscing, a bit of nostalgia and a bit of mystery, since no one I've chatted to can quite decipher half the lyrics. The song takes a while to warm up, but where it goes is very, very high. Some might call it an emotional journey. I would say it's blown the weird silky spider webs of Solar Power off and Lorde is heading back to Melodrama territory. Although recently I've been feeling like Lorde has betrayed little old New Zealand – where was her surprise and highly expected appearance at Laneway?! – it seems you can't take New Zealand out of the girl. The music video has many number eight wire qualities: being filmed at a party where the cops turned up, being finished the very next day, shoes held together by tape, riding a non-electric bike without a helmet, wearing a bikini under jeans, etc, etc. Always nice to feel like a pop star is DTE (down to Earth). Alice Neville When I first listened I thought I found the song a bit meh, but now it's stuck in my head, which is a sign that it may in fact grow on me. I like the 'wearing smoke like a wedding veil line' but should Lorde really be singing about smoking the best cigarette of her life, or any cigarette, for that matter? MDMA in the back garden is fine, riding a bike without a helmet is fine, but do not get me started on cigarettes, those things are bad. Also, why does she have tape around one of her shoes? Jin Fellet My immediate reaction when watching the video was 'oh she's wearing the same outfit from her Washington Square Park appearance' and then I realised this all happened on the same day, and it makes more sense that the appearance was for the music video. I have been listening to Melodrama over the past week in anticipation of the new release, and on the full first listen, I can say I am a fan. I can imagine myself with a glass of wine, dancing alone to this in my living room. Welcome back Lorde.
