Charli XCX (born Charlotte Aitchison in Cambridge, England in 1992) is an English pop singer, songwriter, and producer who has spent a decade pulling mainstream pop toward the experimental edge. The Pop 2 mixtape (2017) mapped hyperpop before it had a name, and Brat (2024) became a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Browse Charli XCX vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Charlotte Emma Aitchison was born in Cambridge, England on August 2, 1992. She began releasing music online as a teenager and signed with Asylum/Atlantic in 2010, with her commercial breakthrough coming through Icona Pop's I Love It (2012, co-written and featured) and her own Boom Clap (2014, from The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack). Her catalog has moved progressively from mainstream pop into more experimental and avant-pop territories, working extensively with PC Music collaborators including AG Cook and the late SOPHIE. Her 2024 album Brat became a critical and cultural phenomenon, spawning the brat summer cultural moment and earning multiple major awards.
Charli XCX's sound combines pop, electropop, synth-pop, hyperpop, and experimental pop with collaborations spanning the PC Music orbit and major-label production. Her work has frequently anticipated and shaped broader pop production trends, particularly through her hyperpop-influenced mixtapes Number 1 Angel (2017) and Pop 2 (2017).
Atlantic pressings of the Charli XCX catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions. Brat (2024) has appeared in numerous retailer-exclusive variants, deluxe editions, and a remix album release.
Listeners new to Charli XCX typically start with Brat (2024) or Charli (2019).
