Charli xcx - Charli

Released in 2019, Charli found the artist billed as pop's resident futurist leaning all the way into the hyperpop-adjacent, feature-heavy maximalism that would come to define her next several years. Executive produced with longtime collaborator A. G. Cook, whose glossy, PC Music-honed production fingerprints run through nearly every track, the self-titled album stacks an almost unreasonable number of guest spots into fifteen songs and somehow keeps it all cohesive.

The features alone read like a genre-spanning wishlist: Troye Sivan on the fan-favorite "1999," Lizzo on "Blame It on Your Love," plus Christine and the Queens, Haim, Sky Ferreira, Clairo, and a full posse cut pulling together Big Freedia, CupcakKe, and Brooke Candy. It shouldn't hold together as well as it does, but Charli's ear for unconventional songwriting and hooks keeps the whole thing feeling like a single, coherent statement rather than a collaboration grab bag. "Gone" became another fan touchstone, while "White Mercedes" pulls back the maximalism just enough to reveal a genuinely vulnerable side underneath all the glitch and gloss.

Critics responded to the record's boldness immediately, praising it as some of Charli's most fearless and fully realized work, and Charli is widely regarded as the album where she fully committed to the sound and collaborative style that would carry through to Crash and eventually Brat.

This 2LP pressing runs at 45RPM for maximum fidelity, presented in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves, giving the album's dense, detail-packed production the format it deserves.