At a time when everyone else is shifting their albums back to avoid a COVID-19 shaped sinkhole in the middle of 2020’s cultural universe, it would take a brave artist to go the other way. Someone who is used to turning left when the diversion sign says go right. Someone like Charli XCX.
Over the weekend, we all giggled when an – at the time thought to be hoax – label memo appeared online stating a new album, ‘how i’m feeling now’, would be released on 15th May. Obviously, while tongue in cheek about certain aspects (NOBODY MENTION TAXI – Ed), it was absolutely correct.
Embarking on a self-isolation Zoom chat wit 1000 of her fans earlier this evening (6th April), Charli explained: “Hi guys, it’s Charli here. I hope you’re doing whatever it is you need to do to stay positive during this time of completely unknown, uncharted territory. For me, staying positive goes hand in hand with staying creative, and so that’s why I’ve decided I’m going to use this isolation time to make a brand new album from scratch.
“The nature of this album is going to be very indicative of the times because I’m only going to be able to use the tools I have at my fingertips to create all music, all artwork, all videos… everything – in that sense, it’ll be very DIY. I’ll also be reaching out to people online to collaborate with, and I’m going to keep the entire process super open, so that anybody who wants to watch can. I’ll be posting demos, I’ll be posting acapellas, I’ll be posting text conversations with me and any collaborators, I’ll be filming myself in the studio, I’ll be doing Zoom conferences to ask fans or anyone watching for opinions or ideas, I’m going to set up an email address so that fans or anyone can send me beats or references… the whole thing in that sense will be extremely collaborative because anybody who wants to be involved can explore their creativity alongside mine.
“The album is going to come out May 15th, which is kind of soon-ish, I suppose, and there’s a couple of scratch ideas but I’m basically starting from nothing, so hopefully I meet the deadline! The album is called ‘how i’m feeling now’, which is a working title but I kind of like it.
“So yeah, that’s it! I can’t wait to start making this, and I can’t wait to share this whole process with you. That’s it – bye!”
So there we go. A new Charli XCX album written, recorded and released from self-isolation will be with us in just over a month. You can check out the full ‘announcement’ video below.
