Barclaycard presents Latitude Festival
25 - 28 July 2024
Henham Park, Suffolk
Charli XCX is not only the pop queen responsible for huge chart smashes like ‘Boys’ and ‘Boom Clap’. She’s also a prolific songwriter who’s penned tracks for everyone from James Blunt and Blondie, to MØ and Selena Gomez.
Charli’s renowned for her collaborations with artists of all genres, so we’re counting down the Top Ten.
Charli teamed up with French singer-songwriter Christine And The Queens for the third single from her latest self-titled album. It received mass critical acclaim with Pitchfork labelling it the fourth best song of 2019. It also came third in Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record Of The Year’ on Radio 1. Charli has said the song is about “feeling isolated and alone in crowded rooms” and “learning to be comfortable with who you truly are”.
One of the biggest stars of the moment, singer and rapper, Lizzo, joined Charli on ‘Blame It On Your Love’. Sea level survivalists, k9 filterheads, and fertility nymphs abound in the accompanying outlandish video. Don’t know what any of that means? Just press play below and find out.
It’s the song that launched Charli into the public eye – Icona Pop’s ‘I Love It’. It was a sleeper hit as it was originally released back in 2012, but took a whole year to finally reached number one in the UK charts.
Charli originally wrote the song based on a beat sent to her by producer Patrik Berger with the intention to release it herself. But, she decided it didn’t quite fit with her sound and instead she teamed up with Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop. The rest is history.
Both Charli and Icona Pop went on to feature on fellow Latitude 2020 artist, Tove Lo‘s NSFW single, ‘bitches’. Taken from her third album ‘Blue Lips’, it also features Rapper Elliphant and Finnish singer ALMA. The song has been called ‘a lesbian anthem’ and the video is all about female empowerment.
Get ready for some nostalgia. Charli’s video for ‘1999’, featuring Australian singer Troye Sivan, takes us back in time to the 90’s. Troye also appeared on a sequel to the song, ‘2099’, which is the closing track on Charli’s most recent album. Count the 90’s references in the video: we spotted The Sims, Titanic, The Blair Witch Project and N-Sync to name just a few!
We all know that Charli sings the chorus on Aussie rapper Iggy Azalea’s smash hit ‘Fancy’, but did you know she also had a hand in the songwriting? ‘Fancy’ is one of Charli’s biggest hits and was absolutely huge back in 2014.
It held the number one spot on the US Billboard chart for seven consecutive weeks. It was also the most streamed song of the year on Spotify as well as the most watched video on Vevo.
Charli co-wrote ‘1 Night’ with UK producer Mura Masa. It’s a summer-y pop banger with an infectious hook and a calypso rhythm that was made for festivals. Crossan told Vice that he “wanted to send Charli something that was poppier for me, but more of a left turn for her. I mean, she’s a pop star and I’m not. You could say I make pop music, but there’s something else going on there as well—it’s not just brazen pop. But I thought it’d be fun to meet her halfway”.
Recently Charli featured on a very different project – a theme song for Japan’s Super Nintendo World theme park! Charli teamed up with one of the biggest dance DJs on the planet, Galantis, for the track ‘We Are Born To Play’, which features a remix of the iconic Mario theme tune. She also makes an appearance in the colourful video alongside Mario, Yoshi and other Nintendo pals.
‘Doing It’ first appeared on Charli’s sophomore album ‘Sucker’ in 2014. A year later, an alternative version of the song was released as a single featuring Rita Ora. In the video, Charli and Rita are a modern day Thelma and Louise on the run from the cops. The two have a strong musical relationship as Charli later went on to feature on Rita Ora’s song ‘Girls’.
We’ve saved the best for last, it’s Charli’s collab with Latitude headliners Haim! Charli and the Haim sisters wrote ‘Warm’ together for Charli’s latest album. The song is an atmospheric dance anthem for anyone who has ever loved someone they can’t have. The chorus will sweep you away on the first listen. Fingers crossed this won’t be the last song they collaborate on together.
