CRASH by Charli XCX

Crash, Charli XCX's fifth studio album, arrived on 18 March 2022 through Asylum and Atlantic, the last record owed on her Asylum contract, and she leaned right into the irony, calling it her "major label sell-out" album. After years of bent, experimental hyperpop, she played the pop star as satire: singing songs other writers handed her, working with an A&R person for the first time, and chasing the glossy dance-pop of the '80s and '90s, with Janet Jackson among her touchstones. A small army of producers, from A. G. Cook and George Daniel to Ariel Rechtshaid and Oneohtrix Point Never, buffs every surface to a chrome shine.

The title and the look both come from David Cronenberg's 1996 film Crash. "Good Ones", "New Shapes" with Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek, and "Beg for You" with Rina Sawayama led the singles. It went to number one in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and stayed her biggest seller until Brat came along.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.