Spoiler Alert: Charli XCX is our 2014 performer of the year.
Over the next week or two, Vanyaland will be rolling out its annual Year In ReView coverage, a collection of our writer staff’s Top 10 lists, their essays on 2014’s musical output and identity, and other various Best Ofs to carry us through to the holidays. And if you’ve perused these pages of digital ink at any point over the last 12 months or so, it’ll come as no surprise that Charli XCX will be all over it.
The British pop singer and producer born Charlotte Aitchison served notice last year as writer of Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” and followed it up in 2014 with two massive hits: singing the infectious hook on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” then bringing the Fault In Our Stars soundtrack to such great heights with the pulsating summer Capital-J-A-M, “Boom Clap.” (With apologies to Taylor and Tove, the latter is likely this writer’s favorite song of 2014.)
Now with Charli XCX’s sophomore album Sucker due this week via Atlantic/Neon Gold Records — just wait until “Famous” and “Breaking Up” get released as a single next year — the blossoming 22-year-old superstar stormed Saturday Night Live last night to dust off “Boom Clap” and introduce follow-up single “Break The Rules” to late-night TV audiences.
Watch the videos below, via Rolling Stone, and drink in Charli’s incredible retro-’90s look in the “Break The Rules” clip.
That sound? It’s our heart, and for Lady XCX, the beat goes on and on and on.