Charli XCX is the professional name of Charlotte Emma Aitchison, an English singer and songwriter born in Cambridge, England, and raised in Start Hill, Essex. She begins posting songs on MySpace in 2008, which leads to her being noticed by a promoter and booked to play warehouse raves and parties. In 2010, she signs to Asylum Records and follows with a run of singles and mixtapes in 2011 and 2012.

Breakthrough and early albums

Charli XCX rises to wider attention in 2012 through the Icona Pop collaboration “I Love It”, which becomes an international hit and reaches the top 10 in North America and Europe. Her debut album, True Romance (2013), is released to critical acclaim, although it does not meet commercial expectations. In 2014, she contributes the chorus and hook to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”, one of the year’s best-selling singles worldwide and a song nominated for two Grammy Awards. That same year, she releases “Boom Clap”, her first solo top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, and her second album, Sucker, which draws on pop and rock and produces the singles “Break the Rules” and “Doing It”.

PC Music, mixtapes and later solo work

From 2015, Charli XCX works with producers and artists connected to A. G. Cook’s British collective PC Music, along with producer SOPHIE. While developing her third album, she issues the Vroom Vroom EP in 2016 and the mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 in 2017. During this period she also releases singles including the BPI-certified “After the Afterparty”, “Boys” and “1999”.

Her third studio album, Charli, appears in 2019, followed by how i’m feeling now, which she records and releases during the UK’s first national lockdown in 2020. She then releases CRASH in 2022 and BRAT in 2024. Following the success of BRAT, she wins three Grammys at the 67th Grammy Awards in 2025: Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Recording Package and Best Pop Recording for “Von dutch”.

Writing for other artists

Alongside her own recordings, Charli XCX writes for other artists, including Camila Cabello, Rita Ora and Selena Gomez. Her work spans pop, electropop, electronic, bubblegum bass, dance-pop, deconstructed club and electroclash, and she releases music through labels including Vroom Vroom Recordings and Charli XCX Inc.