Charli XCX sure knows how to make an entrance. After a quick half hour wait, she emerges from the misty haze and stomps to the beat of ‘Sucker’. Backed by her three-member girl band, all clad in glittering outfits, the Brit singer struts, shakes and shimmies up and down the stage like she’s the star of her own runway. Playing it cool with oversized shades and a shimmering playsuit, she whips out a giant inflatable guitar for the next track, ‘Breaking Up’, and proceeds to ‘strum’ it with all the swagger of playing a real one. Clearly, she’s not one to do anything half-assed.
Photo: Aloysius Lim
‘I Love It’, the shouty collab Charli XCX did with Icona Pop, proves to be quite the crowd pleaser. Everyone sings along with gusto – although we should probably mention that the size of the audience is less than ideal. But she’s unfazed, pumping up the crowd with her sassy dance moves, which include air punches, hair flips and model-y poses.
Photo: Dominic Phua
It almost feels like we’re at a psychedelic electro pop party, what with all that sparkle on stage as a backdrop to Charli XCX’s vivacious enthusiasm. ‘You guys like to break the rules, right?’ she shrieks, before seguing into ‘Break the Rules’, and the audience throw themselves into the song like it’s the anthem of their lives. ‘I don’t wanna go to school/I just wanna break the rules!’ scream the (mostly teenage) die-hard fans in the front. She saves the best for last, leading the sing-along for ‘Boom Clap’ before waving goodbye and sashaying off stage. As she exits, the opening beats for ‘Fancy’ filter through the speakers. People start yelling for an encore, hoping she’ll come back for the chorus, but nope. We glance at our watch in surprise. The gig only comes up to just under an hour, which noticeably disappoints more than a few fans. But to her credit, it was 50 minutes of high energy fun.