Pop star Charli XCX has candidly addressed why she chooses not to foreground her Indian heritage, explaining that it doesn't "come naturally" to her as a mixed-race individual.
The 33-year-old, born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, discussed her upbringing in Essex with a Scottish father and Indian mother, revealing a lifelong struggle with belonging. She told Nicky Reardon’s Nicky at Night podcast that she "didn’t really feel like I belonged in either side of my family" when she was younger.
In her upcoming album Music Fashion Film, the track "SS26" explores the idea of her heritage as a "unique selling point" (USP). Discussing the lyric, Charli XCX admitted: "I feel like there is this world where I could really play that up a lot. It doesn’t come natural to me probably because of the way that I engage with being a mixed person."
She elaborated on the complexities of her identity, recalling how she felt like an "outsider" both when "hanging out every weekend with the Indian side of my family" and "at school with a bunch of white girls."
She added: "So it’s difficult to place yourself and to understand your identity. And a lot of my friends who are mixed also feel that same way. It’s hard to feel like you can like really claim something. But I am really happy to talk about that."
The Brat star clarified that "SS26" is not, as some fans speculated, about the end of the world, but rather the intense pressures of maintaining a "morally pure" online persona.
She highlighted the contemporary demand for individuals, particularly online, to always be "on the right side of every single conversation and not get things wrong and apologise for things how big or small that you’ve done to ultimately lead you towards some kind of moral sanctuary that will still actually not ever be enough."
She explained that the song delves into the various actions one might take to appear "more appealing," such as "stop like smoking cigarettes, do notes app, apologies for things that I’ve done, claim my Indian heritage more etc."
This pervasive pressure, she believes, has infiltrated the worlds of music, fashion, and film – the very title of her forthcoming record. She lamented that these creative fields "used to be a place where people could escape and have an opinion and feel safe to talk about things in a non-heated way."
Describing her new record, she stated: "It’s a Charlie XCX album. It’s me. It’s pop for sure but we’re exploring more sort of analogue elements." She noted that while some songs are "extremely positive," others reflect the inherent volatility of being an artist.
"I’ve been very, very honest about how volatile I am as a person. I think this album goes into those feelings a lot," she confessed. "This sounds so cheesy but for me it’s like art at all costs. Even though it’s selfish and can sometimes be really difficult to coexist with someone who thinks that way. I’ll probably cause people hurt and pain in my life. It’s hard to be with someone, coexist with someone, be a friend of someone who sometimes feels that way but it is what I feel and I’m like working on it."
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