'Crash' is a weak and quaint retro pop record that could've used a bigger explosion.
For almost a decade now, Charli XCX has shifted and changed as a performer and as a writer. A pop starlet with a raw and brash charm that soon transitioned into PC music as a pop visionary that is able to elevate and merge the sides of mainstream and underground onlookers, that only showcase vulnerable and personal musings as she went on. And personally, having seen this shift was a shocking one a few years ago given that I’ve only heard her mainstream breakthroughs in popular radio and streaming circles. And the more I’ve been discovering and checking out music ever since 2018, I’ve appreciated how Charli’s switch up allowed me to get into the experimental sides of pop and electronic music, and checking the lyrics and records starting from her debut record made me appreciate just how Charli has changed and grown to the artist that she is today.
And now that she’s making ‘Crash’ as a way to put her label contract to a close, giving callbacks to her ‘True Romance’ debut in a lyrical and production sense given that Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen produced a track in the mix, there is hope that this will be a grand sendoff.
But ever since some of the singles dropped, there was some skepticism that I felt going into ‘Crash’. It is again interesting that she would end her label contract with a pop record, paralleling just how she started with a conventional pop record as her debut. But the results of this crash were just nothing but a big deep disappointing and frustrating feeling, where the sparks and pops could go bigger, but it doesn’t.
And it mostly points out to the production, the melodies, and just the overall writing on this record. The retro production was the most disappointing aspect for the most part, where a lot of the synths, drums, and vocal effects sound stiff, loud, and bland like the production mess of ‘Crash’ with its mushy drums and synths and showcases the weakest guitar solo to date, ‘Good Ones’ with that overly swampy bass, ‘Lightning’ with the vocals and synths being a total clusterfuck, and some oddly cheap-sounding retro pastiches that could’ve been released in the mid-2010s from certain songs like ‘Twice’, ‘Used To Know Me’, ‘Move Me’, ‘Constant Repeat’, and ‘Beg For You’ even if I liked the raw chemistry between Rina and Charli XCX. That doesn’t mean there are highlights when it comes to this production, ‘New Shapes’ has a stable flow and buildup from the synths, ‘Baby’ has a groovy and punchy groove from the bass and drums with some string accompaniments, and the same goes with ‘Yuck’ with the bass licks amidst wobbly synth patches. But despite those highlights, it’s still boggling how some of the producers could’ve been producing some of these tracks and just make them better or at least utilize a few producers to make a consistent body of work. Seriously, there could’ve been more of Justin Raisen, Ariel Rechtshaid (even if Lightning is a clusterfuck), and especially producers like Oneohtrix Point Never, A.G Cook, and even bring someone like Danny L Harle who has made these retro sounds quite well beforehand.
I will say that the writing has the ‘True Romance’ tropes is a nice touch, but it’s just disappointing when even if the writing is a polished tried and true staple from what Charli XCX has touched on that debut in this record, it just felt so frustratingly safe coming from her. And that’s pretty much true with the melodies, given just how derivative and modestly conventional it can get. And even when Charli’s vocals give it a raw performance and delivery, it doesn’t save certain tracks from sounding derivative, especially with ‘Crash’ that is reminiscent of ‘Technologic’ by Daft Punk, ‘Yuck’ that may as well be a Katy Perry reject, and ‘Move Me’ and ‘Constant Repeat’ that without the retro production, could’ve been something that can be played in an EDM festival.
It’s a record that could’ve swung bigger and in unique directions, because this is overall just a frustrating and disappointing work from Charli XCX. It might be a crash that finally let her out of label restrictions, but the impact that the crash has made is just nothing more but a sprinkle of weak sparks and short bursts.
Favorite Tracks: New Shapes, Beg For You, Baby, Yuck
Least Favorite Track: Crash, Lightning