Charli xcx - Pop 2

Released with little warning in December 2017, Pop 2 is the record where Charli XCX stopped trying to fit the mold and started building a new one. Executive produced by A. G. Cook, it drew universal acclaim from critics and turned up near the top of countless best-of-the-decade lists, many of them calling it the finest work of her career up to that point.

The mixtape is a party with a guest list to match. Carly Rae Jepsen joins her for the gleaming opener "Backseat," Tove Lo and ALMA trade lines on "Out of My Head," and Caroline Polachek floats through "Tears." Sophie, EasyFun and a crew of PC Music-adjacent producers bend everything into chrome-plated, glitching shapes, and "Unlock It" with Kim Petras and Jay Park later became a viral hit all its own. The closer, "Track 10," is a fan-favorite epic that collapses and rebuilds itself several times over.

It is the purest snapshot of the hyperpop sound she helped push into the mainstream, and essential listening for anyone who came to her through Brat.

This reissue presents the full mixtape on a single LP of 140-gram black vinyl.