Charli XCX Responds to the “Rock Music” Backlash

Charli XCX’s new song “Rock Music” has already managed to split listeners hard, and she’s now stepping into the conversation herself. The track, tied to her much-hyped return to rock via Reality Awaits, has provoked plenty of reaction across the Stereogum universe, from enthusiasm to outright dismissal.

Some listeners are clearly having a blast with it. Margaret Farrell was smitten when she posted the song last Friday, while the rest of the staff was less convinced. In our Discord, the response mostly skewed negative, and Stereogum contributor Eli Enis went so far as to say it must be a joke, reading it as a self-sabotaging move meant to shed part of her fan base after the near-universal praise of the Brat era’s victory lap.

I’m in the opposite camp. “Rock Music” feels huge to me. Based on what’s been teased from Reality Awaits, it might even be the best Strokes song we get this year. Charli leans all the way into rock’s most familiar gestures, and she does it with a wink that never feels lazy. There’s the TV-smashing, the cigarette-strewn video imagery, the headbanging reference that leads to lyrics about nerve damage, and that faux-stunned “wow” at the top of the second verse, which might be the sharpest line reading I’ve heard all year. Her vocal is manic in the best way, and the chorus hits with a glitchy burst that’s hard to shake. The whole thing is funny, committed, and catchy enough that the question of how ironic it is starts to feel secondary once it’s blasting through speakers.

Charli has now weighed in directly on the discourse in an Instagram post, where she drew a line back to older debates around PC Music and Vroom Vroom. In her post, she wrote:

seeing all the different reactions to my song rock music has been really interesting. my friends and i have been discussing how in ways it reminds us of the initial discourse around pc music, how the label was deemed as almost critiquing or looking down on pop music or something, and there was an element of that with vroom vroom too when that ep came out. it’s all kind of fascinating. i love talking about music and art w my friends, so im happy people are throwing out thoughts. i’m not gonna explain where i was coming from with “rock music”, but all i know is that things can be funny, earnest, sincere, and joyful all at the same time and that’s what i feel about a lot of the things i make. anyways, just was thinking about things and thought i’d put them on the internet, will probably regret it lol

That about covers it. Charli’s not offering a tidy explanation, and honestly, that seems to be the point. Listen again below, and if you’re still furious, well, the internet will continue to provide a place for that too.