Charli xcx confesses being a pop star can be 'stupid' and 'embarrassing'
Charli xcx has weighed up and the good and bad sides of being a pop star.
Charli xcx admits being a "pop star" is "f****** fun" - but it's also "stupid" and "embarrassing" at times.
The Von dutch singer acknowledged the perks of her career - free gifts, access to exclusive parties, and the thrill of performing - but also highlighted the cringeworthy aspects of the industry.
In a new entry on her Substack on November 21, Charli penned: “Being a pop star has its pros and cons like most jobs in this world.
“I don’t view what I do as a ‘job’ and I secondly don’t really view myself as purely a pop star, I’m just using that terminology specifically for this piece of writing.”
Charli then turned to the negative sides, noting: “You get to feel special, but you also have to at points, feel embarrassed by how stupid the whole thing is."
The Chains of Love singer - who finally conquered mainstream pop after years of being a cult favourite with last year's Brat album - admitted her fans make her "feel like God" onstage.
She went on: “You get to make people cry with happiness, you soundtrack their break ups, their recovery, their crazy nights out, their revenge, their love, their lives.”
Charli then explained that she doesn't seek a "role model" in her own idols.
She said: "I want hedonism, danger and a sense of anti establishment to come along with my artists because when I was younger I wanted to escape through them.
"To me that’s the point, that’s the drama, that’s the fun, that’s the FANTASY.”
Her latest Substack newsletter comes after Charli confessed that she felt "stuck" and "empty" creatively after she released Brat.
The Apple singer was left "depleted" and couldn't even bear to listen to music, let alone write anything inspiring, as it would leave her "feeling depressed".
In a candid admission, she told fans in her first post on her Substack account: “I still love [Brat], don’t get me wrong, but I was itching to move on and was simultaneously frustrated that I was so depleted that I couldn’t. I was stuck, I was empty, I was barren, I was running on the spot in a different kind of way. I couldn’t really even listen to music without feeling depressed. Everything felt monotonous and boring, even if it wasn’t.”
Charli's Brat album was phenomenally successful—winning a slew of Grammy and BRIT Awards and entering the public consciousness through the Brat Summer trend—but she feared it would get her "dropped" by her record label.
Speaking to Gwyneth Paltrow on her Goop podcast recently, she said: "I actually made this record being like, 'OK, I’m just going to do this one for me. Maybe I’m going to get dropped by my label, and that’s fine.' That was kind of the headspace that I was in."
Charli, however, was "immediately" inspired to begin making music for the forthcoming Wuthering Heights film.
She wrote on social media: “After being so in the depths of my previous album, I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite.
"When I think of Wuthering Heights, I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit."
