Wednesday, December 11, 2024

‘Part of my DNA’: Charli XCX and the fight to save club culture

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Music journalist and critic Shaad D’Souza tells Newsbeat he “has to hope and pray” that lots of Charli’s fans are as excited as Amara about getting into clubbing and going out.

He’s particularly excited about what Brat could mean for the future of the genre – as well as people going out dancing and supporting venues.

“It’s refreshing that someone’s going to the underground for new sounds,” he says.

“Because what we see a lot lately is pop musicians’ direct reference points are the history of pop.”

He points to Tate McRae throwing back to Britney Spears as an example, compared to artists like Madonna and Prince taking inspiration from different styles outside of pop in previous decades and bringing them into the mainstream.

“I think that’s what Charli is doing here and I think that’s something that’s been missing,” Shaad says.

“We lose something when pop references itself.”

As for what the Brat tour can do for the clubbing scene, Shaad believes that, while there’s a growing market for big ticket events like festivals and the Eras tour, huge gigs can happily co-exist with a smaller club scene.

“I don’t think the big pop tour is eating the small club landscape,” he says.

“What’s closing clubs near me is property development and council regulations – no one pop star is not responsible for clubs closing.”

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