After several free singles, remixes, and mixtapes — including recent offering, Heartbreaks and Earthquakes — Charli XCX has finally issued a traditional bid for pop stardom. The 19-year-old Brit’s debut EP, You’re The One, was made available via your preferred purveyor of digital music on June 12.
Besides officially collecting Charli XCX’s brilliant Kate Bush-meets-Prince moment, “Nuclear Seasons,” (one of my Top Tracks of 2011), the EP serves up the totally new title track, “You’re The One,” plus remixes by Balam Acab and Blood Orange.
To craft “You’re The One,” Charli XCX once again teamed up with Ariel Rechtshaid (Usher), with Patrik Berger (The Good Natured, Robyn) also involved behind the scenes. The song, which she described to MTV Hive as being “divided into a dark, midnight sounding bass and [a] heavenly rapture of gold glitter,” will appear on Charli XCX’s full-length album due this October. “You’re The One” succeeds at being both strikingly tough and amazingly tender, with a talky bit toward the end that reminds me of T’Pau’s “Heart And Soul.”
The music video for “You’re The One” was directed by Dawn Shadforth (Florence + The Machine, Hurts). “I’d been looking loads at Pierre et Gille photos and really wanted to create hyperreal, super luscious, heavenly moments,” Charli XCX told Wonderland Magazine. “I think it’s a great pop video that looks cool and means something and that’s just what I wanted.”
Purchase Charli XCX – “You’re The One” via iTunes, Amazon MP3. Exchange your email address for a free download of her Heartbreaks and Earthquakes mixtape via her website.