Focus on Our Love and Let’s Ride These Charli XCX Hits

Our beloved Charlie XCX boom clapped her way into our hearts with chart-topping collaborations and solo hits starting in 2012. But she first kickstarted her career at age 14 as a singer-songwriter, dropping hits on her MySpace page that landed her a gig singing at a string of illegal raves. The bad bitch was in her from the start.

You know we love an outspoken advocate over here in the LGBTQ community, and Charli serves up support for us nonstop. Thank you, baby! But it takes more than allyship to be iconic on her level.

Charli XCX popped out on the scene in a world that wanted her to dumb down her vision. Instead of bending to the pressure of convention, she helped pioneer a new genre with hyperpop and changed the global music industry forever. We stan a trailblazing queen who bends the world to her will. The gays are at your service, Charli.

The ultimate list of Charli XCX hits

Charli has dropped hit after hit and nonstop banger collaborations throughout her career. In the face of industry pushback, she found a way to stay true to herself. Her sound-to-color synesthesia shines through in the expressiveness and expansiveness of her music, giving us innovative hits that light up the world with all the colors she sees in her own music.

From the club to the Pride parade and back again, these are our favorite Charli XCX songs:

1. “Boom Clap” — SUCKER

With hits like “Break the Rules” and featured artists like Rita Ora, we’re a sucker for this whole album. But Charli XCX’s first solo hit, “Boom Clap,” will always be first in our hearts. 

Even with this momentary attempt at mainstream, she just couldn’t help but make a stand-out hit unlike anything else on the radio in 2014 — or anytime since. There isn’t another song like “Boom Clap” out there. Find one; we’ll wait.

2. “Vroom Vroom” — Vroom Vroom EP

Charli’s first collab with producer SOPHIE gave us hyperpop perfection in “Vroom Vroom,” an experimental amalgamation of influences that pushed pop music in new directions and solidified Charli as a pop pioneer.

3. “Claws” — how i’m feeling now

We dare you not to move to this beat! Just kidding — it’s impossible. It isn’t even a club banger, but it just gets us bouncing like we mainlined caffeine and can’t stop telling our crush how much we like him. Believe it or not, we like everything about Charli, too. 

4. “Gone” feat. Christine and the Queens — Charli

Charli and Chris gave us a true collaboration masterpiece with “Gone,” including what might be the chorus to end all chori. They take us to the edge of an existential crisis and then pull us back in with synth beats and longing. 

Not to mention, they served such hot and natural chemistry in the music video it had us fanning our necks — an amazing moment for queer music lovers. These two went on to team up with Caroline Polachek on “New Shapes,” so don’t mind us while we pray to the gay gods for more in the future.

5. “I Got It” feat. Brooke Candy, cupcakKe, and Pabllo Vittar — Pop 2

Charli serves everything-but-the-kitchen-sink realness better than anyone, and this song has it all. She jammed three featured artists and countless musical influences in under four minutes of run time, showing us exactly why it’s called hyperpop. 

Even when it sounds like the robots are going to war, we’re breaking our necks and bopping our heads along to her beats. Pure mixtape magic!

6. “Hot Girl” — Bodies Bodies Bodies Motion Picture Soundtrack

This song is the embodiment of the coolest girl in school rolling up to the party in slow motion, and we’re living for it. Charli graced the soundtrack for the horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies with this one, so you won’t find it on any of her albums.

7. “Boys” — Stand-alone single

Songs like this are exactly why the gays lose it over female pop stars; this shit is so relatable. “I was busy dreaming about boys.” Girl, us too! And who do you know that can sample a Super Mario Bros. sound and have it work this well? This is one of the best pop songs of the decade, period.

8. “Yuck” — CRASH

Pop sensibility can’t be taught, and this song shows off Charli’s absolute prowess. Fun, funny, and charming, “Yuck” is practically a fuckboi anthem, but she’s the fuckboi. She was just trying to get lucky! Stop making her blush, eww!

9. “Beg for You” feat. Rina Sawayama — CRASH

Just when you thought Charli’s creative ingenuity couldn’t get better, she teams up with queer experimental pop phenom Rina Sawayama and delivers us the rainbow and the pot of gold. We are unabashedly begging for more.

10. “Backseat” feat. Carly Rae Jepsen — Pop 2

Wow, Charli and another one of our all-time faves on a track together, and it’s literally so good? Charli and Carly are iconic in their own ways with their unique styles, but they complement each other so perfectly in “Backseat” that you’d think they were a girl group if you didn’t know better. They keep saying they’re better off alone, but they absolutely make magic together.

11. “1999”  feat. Troye Sivan — Charli

Sure, Charli and Troye were seven and four years old, respectively, in 1999, but that doesn’t stop them from delivering a nostalgia-inducing banger that invokes Britney and J.T. while also serving us yet another epic queer cultural moment.

12. “Constant Repeat” — CRASH

Whoever fumbled the ultimate baddie that is Charli XCX must be kicking himself; we would never let her go unappreciated. This is one of those songs you don’t mind getting stuck in your head. Hell, she gets her own songs stuck in her head, too. Seriously, she told us!

You know we keep this song on constant repeat.

13. “Next Level Charli” — Charli

This is synth magic and a powerful album opener. Far more consuming than it has any right to be, “Next Level Charli” loops its lyrics over and over and still leaves us wanting more. Incredible!

14. “Forever” — how i’m feeling now

Charli recorded her quarantine album in just six weeks and let her fans participate in the process — because of course she did! She’s innovative, iconic, and downright ingenious. And it paid off with some of the most engaging and optimistic songs in the entire Charli XCX discography, including “Forever.”

15. “Anthems” — how i’m feeling now

Some people learned how to bake sourdough bread in the early weeks of the COVID lockdown, and some people produced the premier experimental, electropop, dancy party hit to suit the strangest global experience in modern history. 

It takes all kinds, but Charli XCX stays in a league of her own. Excuse us while we take a dance break because this song is too damn good!

16. “Lightning” — CRASH

Charli wrapped up her contractual obligations with Atlantic Records with her fifth studio album, CRASH. It topped charts around the world for the first time in her career, likely due to its more mainstream vibe. 

But the song “Lightning,” produced by long-time collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, slaps you across the face with Charli’s signature synth-soaked uniqueness and brings the quintessential Charli vibe back into the album.

Best Charli features

Some of Charli’s best hits aren’t even her songs. She graciously contributes her songwriting expertise to other artists and drops in for some earth-shattering features from time to time, too. She’s generous like that.

1. “I Love It” by Icona Pop

The song that put her on the Billboard charts for the first time ever in 2013 is still an absolute banger, by the way. “I Love It” remains the most feral, party girl, breakup, insanity anthem of all time. Add it to your karaoke song set list — trust us.

2. “If It’s Over” by MØ

Charli and Danish singer-songwriter (and all-around underrated pop prodigy) MØ have jumped on each other’s songs a handful of times, and they’re always great. But the potency of their washed-my-hands-of-you energy in this post-breakup jam makes this one our favorite. 

3. “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea

This song has an unreal amount of awards and accolades. It’s both Charli and Iggy’s first #1 Billboard hit, and it got them a freakin’ Grammy! They may have written it together, but Charli’s chorus and bridge make the song truly special.

Our number one angel

There’s no shortage of Charli XCX hits in the world. Lucky us — they just keep coming! From illegal raves to global fame to revolutionizing pop music, Charli might have a tendency to let the good ones go, but we wouldn’t dream of letting her go. We’ll be there for every new album, single, and collab. And after the afterparty, we’ll do it all again!

If you’re looking for true romance, quit dreaming about boys and go find them on Grindr. Download the Grindr app now and get started.

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