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Straddling the most experimental and mainstream sides of pop with ease, Charli xcx is just as comfortable working with cutting-edge producers like A.G. Cook as she is touring with Taylor Swift. As a songwriter and collaborator, she helped create some of the biggest pop singles of the 2010s, including Icona Pop's 2012 smash "I Love It" and Iggy Azalea's 2014 chart-topping hit "Fancy." As an artist in her own right, her work spanned the edgy sounds of her 2013 debut album, True Romance, to the more straightforward territory of 2014's follow-up Sucker, which featured the U.S. Top Ten single "Boom Clap." As the decade unfolded, she only became more prolific and eclectic. Along with founding her own label, Vroom Vroom, she issued EPs and mixtapes, including 2017's Pop 2, that combined the different sides of her music in a fittingly freewheeling way -- a direction she continued on '90s and 2000s pop flirtations of 2022's Crash and 2024's acclaimed Brat, a blend of indie sleaze hedonism and confessional songwriting that took her popularity to new heights.

Born in Cambridge, England, to a Scottish father and a Gujarati Indian mother, Charlotte Aitchison began writing songs when she was 14. By 2008, she was posting her tracks online and performing at raves, taking her MSN Messenger username as her alias. That year, she released a pair of singles, "Emelline/Art Bitch" and "!Franchesckaar!," and recorded her first album, which she sold at concerts but was never released officially. She returned in 2011 with the singles "Stay Away" and "Nuclear Seasons," both of which were produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, and appeared on Starkey's "Lost in Space" and Alex Metric's "End of the World." She also issued the mixtapes Super Girls, Super Love, and I Like Boys Who Cry, which respectively gathered the female and male artists who shaped her music.

Charli xcx's first original mixtape, Heartbreaks and Earthquakes, arrived in May 2012 and was followed by her U.S. debut EP, You're the One, and another mixtape, November's Super Ultra. Later that year, she scored her biggest hit to date when she appeared on Icona Pop's single "I Love It," which she co-wrote. It became one of the year's biggest songs, hitting number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the U.K. singles chart. Her debut album, True Romance, arrived in April 2013. Featuring production by Rechtshaid, Joakim Ã…hlund, and Blood Diamonds, the album reached number 85 on the U.K. Albums chart, was a top 20 hit in Australia, and reached number five on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.

Though True Romance earned critical acclaim, Charli xcx was already working on her next album later that year, with collaborators as diverse as Weezer, Stargate, and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij; she issued the single "Superlove" in December. Her big break came in 2014, when she collaborated with Iggy Azalea on the single "Fancy." The song became both artists' first number one on Billboard's Hot 100 that May (Aitchison also co-wrote "Beg for It," which appeared on Azalea's Reclassified and featured Danish singer/songwriter MØ). Also that month, XCX released the single "Boom Clap," which introduced a more straightforward pop sound. Featured on the soundtrack to the film adaptation of the young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars, it charted in the Top Ten in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, becoming her biggest solo hit to date. The single also appeared on the pop-punk influenced full-length Sucker, which arrived that December. Along with "Boom Clap," the album spawned several more singles, including "Break the Rules," "Famous," and 'Doing It," featuring Rita Ora. Sucker reached the Top 30 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and peaked at number 15 on the U.K. albums chart.

During this time, Charli xcx further established herself as a songwriter and collaborator, penning the Iggy Azalea/MØ track "Beg for It," as well as songs for Gwen Stefani and Rihanna. In 2015, she appeared on Ty Dolla $ign's single "Drop That Kitty" alongside Tinashe and collaborated with Mr. Oizo on his Hand in the Fire EP. Early in 2016, XCX launched her boutique label, Vroom Vroom, releasing an EP by the same name that featured Hannah Diamond and SOPHIE, and singles by RIVRS and Cuckoolander. That year, PC Music's A.G. Cook became Charli XCX's creative director. In October 2016, she released the single "After the Afterparty," the lead track from her scheduled third album; peaking at number 29 on the U.K. Singles Chart, it received silver certification from the BPI. Along with writing two tracks for Blondie's album Pollinator ("Gravity" and "Tonight"), in 2017 XCX released the Number 1 Angel mixtape, which featured contributions by MØ and CupcakKe that March. Around that time, she also appeared on Mura Masa's single "1 Night." Later in the year, the songs from her upcoming third album leaked, leading XCX to cancel the project entirely. A second mixtape, Pop 2, followed that December, and included the single "Out of My Head," featuring Alma and Tove Lo.

In 2018, Charli xcx joined the star-studded single "Girls" with Rita Ora, Cardi B, and Bebe Rexha, later releasing her own singles "5 in the Morning," "Focus," and "Girls Night Out." She also joined Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour as an opener. To close out her year, she issued the single "1999," a collaboration with Troye Sivan that became a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and climbed into the Top 20 around the globe. The song appeared on Charli XCX's third album, which also featured Lizzo, Christine and the Queens, Sky Ferreira, and Yaeji as well as producers including PC Music's A.G. Cook, Easyfun, and Stargate. The simply named Charli arrived in September 2019, and debuted at number 14 on the U.K. charts; in the U.S., it appeared in the Top 50 of the Billboard 200. In addition, she collaborated with BTS' Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook on "Dream Glow," a song from the soundtrack to the group's mobile game BTS World.

Early in 2020, Charli xcx collaborated with Galantis and 100 gecs and was working on her next album, but when the global COVID-19 pandemic required her -- and much of the world -- to shelter in place starting in March 2020, she changed gears. Along with conducting live chats with artists including Orville Peck and Rina Sawayama on her social media platforms, she used her fans' input to test out a new set of songs for an album she completed during quarantine. With production assists from Cook, BJ Burton and 100 gecs' Dylan Brady among others, how i'm feeling now arrived in May 2020 and evoked the spontaneous feel of her mixtapes. The album reached number 33 in the U.K. and was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.

In 2021 she collaborated on the track "Spinning" with No Rome and the 1975 before releasing her own stand-alone song, "Good Ones." For her fifth album, March 2022's Crash, Aitchison updated dance-pop from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s with the help of collaborators including A.G. Cook, Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, and Oneohtrix Point Never. The album was her most successful yet, topping charts in the U.K. and Australia, reaching number seven in the U.S., and appearing on the Mercury Prize shortlist. Shortly after the album's release, she worked with Tiësto on the single "Hot in It." She then concentrated on music for films, first contributing the single "Hot Girl" to 2022's Bodies Bodies Bodies. xcx teamed with Pop 2 producer Easyfun on "Speed Drive," which appeared on the hit soundtrack to 2023's Barbie; the song reached number nine in the U.K. and 73 in the U.S., marking her first showing on the charts there since 2014. She also scored 2023's Bottoms with co-composer Leo Birenberg. xcx rounded out the year by featuring on Addison Rae's "2 Die 4" and collaborating with Sam Smith on the Top 40 U.K. hit "In the City."

Early in 2024, Charli xcx performed at Brooklyn's Boiler Room backed by musicians including Cook and the 1975's George Daniel. The show set the tone for her February single "Von Dutch," a brash, dancefloor-oriented track that appeared on that June's full-length Brat. The album paired raw, stripped-down productions from Cook, Easyfun, Gesaffelstein, and xcx with some of her most candid songwriting. Reaching number two in the U.K. and number three in the U.S., Brat garnered her highest first-week sales in both countries. The album's distinctive artwork of plain black text on a neon green background went viral on social media, and was adopted for campaigns for the Green Party of England and Wales and by presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the U.S. Shortly after the album's release, the deluxe version Brat and It's the Same but There's Three More Songs So It's Not arrived, featuring the Billie Eilish collaboration "Guess" among its bonus tracks. A remix of "Guess" topped the U.K. Singles Chart, making it xcx's first appearance on the chart since 2012's "I Love It." Brat was nominated for the Mercury Prize that July, and in October the remix album brat and it's completely different but also still brat appeared while xcx was on tour with Troye Sivan. The album's list of collaborators included Sivan, Eilish, Polachek, Cook, Ariana Grande, Robyn, Lorde, and less-expected artists such as the Strokes' Julian Casablancas and Bon Iver. ~ Heather Phares

Shooting from obscurity to fame as the featured artist on Disclosure's "Latch" in 2012, a global smash hit that showcased their distinctively stirring high tenor, Sam Smith has since become one of pop's most prominent balladeers. Taking cues from soul belters like Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan, followers such as Amy Winehouse and Adele, and their own church upbringing, Smith effectively arrived as a headliner with 2014's In the Lonely Hour. Multi-platinum in the singer's native U.K. and the U.S., the album also garnered Best New Artist and three additional Grammys among a slew of accolades. Smith followed up with 2017's The Thrill of It All, a heartsick album favoring Southern soul and gospel, and by the end of the 2010s had accumulated six number one U.K. singles as a headliner: "Money on My Mind," "Stay with Me," and "Lay Me Down," followed by the Academy Award-winning James Bond theme "Writing's on the Wall," "Too Good at Goodbyes," and the Calvin Harris collaboration "Promises." The singer entered the next decade with a handful of additional Top 20 U.K. singles that led to 2020's Love Goes, followed by the Grammy-winning "Unholy" and its parent album, 2023's Gloria.

Before their commercial breakthrough at the age of 21, the London-born singer and songwriter balanced their studies and music, sang in choirs and in bands, and performed in musical theater productions. They developed a passionate approach to singing inspired by their Catholic upbringing and numerous soul legends, and in the late 2000s headlined a couple low-profile independent singles, "Bad Day All Week" and "When It's Alright." Smith was barely out of their teens when, in late 2012, they reached a much larger audience as the featured vocalist on Disclosure's "Latch." A powerful and loping mixture of U.K. garage and contemporary dance-pop, the song went to number 11 in the U.K., where it also went platinum. Over in the U.S., it took significantly longer to take hold, but eventually hit number seven there and was certified platinum three times over.

The singer's first major-label solo single, released in February 2013, went in a more adult contemporary direction. Produced by Jimmy Napes and Steve Fitzmaurice, "Lay Me Down" recalled the pared-down ballads that had proved successful for Adele, another artist Smith admired. Only three months later, producer/songwriter Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan followed his Emeli Sandé-fronted U.K. Top Ten hit "Wonder" with "La La La," featuring a lead vocal from Smith (who had just finished a series of dates in support of Sandé). It was an instant number one U.K. hit and reached number 19 in the States. That October, Smith issued the Nirvana EP, which included "Lay Me Down" and an acoustic version of "Latch."

By the end of February 2014, they were back on top of the U.K. chart with "Money on My Mind," a single marrying their relaxed vocal with a frenetic production from Two Inch Punch. Smith's debut long-player, In the Lonely Hour, followed that May in the U.K., and topped the album chart. It arrived in the U.S. the following month and peaked at number two there. The singles "Stay with Me," "I'm Not the Only One," and "Lay Me Down" hit the Top Ten in both the U.K. and U.S. The number two seller of 2014 in the U.K. and U.S., behind only respective LPs by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, In the Lonely Hour led to awards from organizations as varied as the BRITs, Billboard, BET, and the Recording Academy. Smith almost swept the "big four" Grammy categories by winning Best New Artist, as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year, the latter two for the Darkchild version of "Stay with Me," produced by Rodney Jerkins. In the Lonely Hour didn't win Album of the Year, but it did take the award for Best Pop Vocal Album.

In 2015, Smith recorded another Disclosure collaboration, "Omen," eventually placed on the production duo's Caracal. Smith also earned the honor of being chosen to record the theme for a James Bond film. "Writing's on the Wall," recorded for Spectre, was the first Bond theme to go to number one in the U.K. An expanded version of In the Lonely Hour, the "Drowning Shadows Edition," was released that November with new material and previously released stray tracks added to the original album.

Following Golden Globe and Academy Award wins for "Writing's on the Wall," Smith spent most of 2016 and early 2017 in the studio recording their follow-up album with previous collaborators Jimmy Napes and Steve Fitzmaurice. "Too Good at Goodbyes," the lead single from Smith's second album, was issued in September 2017. The ballad went to number one in the U.K. and the Top Five in the U.S. just before its parent release, The Thrill of It All, entered the U.K. and U.S. charts at number one.

The promotional campaign wound down the next year, and Smith continued with singles across the remainder of 2018 and into 2019. These included three more Top Ten U.K. hits: the chart-topping Calvin Harris collaboration "Promises," the Normani duet "Dancing with a Stranger" (also Top Ten U.S.), and "How Do You Sleep?" Strides toward Smith's third album continued in 2020 with "To Die For," which peaked in the U.K. at number 18. Preceded by a couple of additional Top 20 entries -- "I'm Ready" featuring Demi Lovato and "Diamonds" -- Love Goes arrived that October, reaching number two in the U.K. and hitting number five on the Billboard 200.

Determining to not make another album filled with romantic sorrow, Smith designed Gloria, their fourth full-length, as a wider-scoped affair both lyrically and sonically. Lead single "Love Me More" arrived in April 2022, and was followed five months later by "Unholy," a slinking collaboration with Kim Petras that Smith produced with Jimmy Napes, Cirkut, Ilya, Blake Slatkin, and Omer Fedi. Shortly after the release of "Unholy," Smith performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and included their new song in the set (excerpted for the Live from the Royal Albert Hall EP). "Unholy" topped the U.K. and U.S. pop charts and, just weeks after Gloria's January 2023 release, earned Smith and Petras the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. ~ Andy Kellman & James Wilkinson