Everything I Know About Charli XCX's New Single
Do you think "New Shapes" is as hot as the guest list?
Hi fellow ghouls,
This is The Deviant Dispatch. I’m Mo, your guide to the underground. I write about NYC-based events, gay shit, and cool kid gossip. There will be snark, typos, and lots of Charli XCX updates. If you like what you see, become a paying subscriber, share this with someone, or hit the heart button at the top of the post.
Charli XCX update: She has a new song with Caroline Polacheck and Christine and The Queens out today! AAAAAAAAA.
The song is making me go AAAAA not because of the 80s-era drums, but because of the collaborators. Charli enlisted both Christine & The Queens AND Caroline Polachek for this song. Both are artists that Charli has worked with before so this isn’t necessarily surprising, but them both being on the same track is a smart way to level up the blood pressure of stans.
Christine was the key feature on one of Charli’s strongest songs ever, 2019’s “Gone.” By far and away the best song from the tepid album Charli, “Gone” was a turning point that found Ms. XCX starting to be more honest about her anxiety, something that was full front and center on the 2020 album How I’m Feeling Now. Separate from Charli, Christine has been the rare indie pop artist with the public respect of a soul singer or indie band. Her fanbase is a bit more sophisticated, in response to her mature brand of mournful pop. Listen to “People have been sad” “Walker” or “Tilted” for a taste.
Caroline Polachek has been on her own journey long before she started hopping on Charli tracks. For a deep dive on her, I strongly recommend Jia Tolentino’s peice on her from The New Yorker. The long and short of it is Caroline Polacheck was in the indie band Chairlift before collaborating with Charli in 2017 on “Tears” and then releasing a hugely hyped album So Hot Your Hurting My Feelings in 2019. During 2020 she collaborated with Christine and The Queens on the song “La vita nuova”. Her single “Bunny Is a Rider” is in the running for top song of 2021.
Anyway back to “New Shapes” The song was produced by Linus Wiklund and Deaton Chris Anthony, the man behind the lovely songs “RACECAR” ft Clario, Coco, and Clair Clair. He also made the sprawling booty shaker “1999 she”. The songwriter Noonie Bao, a longtime collaborator of Charli’s, also helped write the song. Noonie’s past songs include Charli XCX’s Track 10 as well as Troye Sivan’s “Dance To This.” Charli XCX originally teased a snippet of “New Shapes” (“what you want? I ain’t got it”) during a livestream performance for Bandsintown. The performance had another unreleased song, but was otherwise a very skippable XCX moment.
Charli also posted shots from a music video with Caroline and Christine. There’s no word yet on when the music video will come out. She did reveal that the new album will be coming out March 13th and it will be called Crash. The cover has her sexily sprawled across a car window, presumably post-car accident.
She also listed everyone else who is going to be on her next album on Twitter: A.G. cook, George Daniel, Lotus Iv, Oscar Holter, Digital Farm Animals, Rina Sawayama, Ian Kirkpatrik, Jason Evigan, Justin Raisen, Sadpony, Ariel Rechtshaid, ilya, Oneohtrixpointnever, Mike wise, Jon shave. Reply to this email if you want me to do a deep dive on all the names.
Tbh I still have my reserves about how quality this album will be, but I’ll be covering it regardless. Until then, on to the events!
XOXO
MO
1 Night Gallery
When: 7pm-Midnight
Where: 359 Bleeker ST
What: a pop up group gallery show. Artists include: MTHR TRSA, who you know for drag but is equally artistically adept at photography. Adam Drake, who’s drawing went viral in my feed last week. Abstract painter William Conrad will also be there.
How much: free to attend, prices of art vary
Groupie Music Video Release Show
When: Friday
Where Our Wicked Lady
What: My friends and I at Booked By Grandma are at it again! This time we’re throwing a party for the release of Groupie’s first ever music video. We’ve got the west african art-folk band the Narcotix opening, the indie soul 3 piece Saint Mela, guitar band Big Girl all join the bill. It’s sure to be an eclectic night full of feeling on Our Wicked Ladies roof.
How much: $11.30
SKSKSKS x Fake and Gay
When: Friday 10pm-5 am
Where: 17 Meadow Street
What: Dedicated readers will know I have a soft spot for this hyperpop party. Run by the DJ THELIMITDOESNOTEXIST, it’s a more inclusive one than others on the scene, with a talent for nabbing producers and live performers actively shaping the genre. This party is a collab between the west coast party fake and Gay, and the lineup is particularly stacked. “Bitch Bites Dog” singer Cecile Belive will be performing, and hyperpop producer Umru and twitter tastemaker turned DJ Goth Jafar will be playing sets.
How much: $28.25
In Living Color
When: Wednesday 7pm
Where: 3 Dollar Bill
What: Junior Mint’s monthly show about community and top notch drag hasn’t made this newsletter yet. Mostly because it’s on Wednesdays which is when I tend to write it out. This edition is filled with too much star power not to print, even though it’s almost a week away. Pillars Junior Mint, Juniper Juicy, and Filthy June will of course be there, but this time there will also be numbers from scene queen Chiquitita (she was miss Bushwig for goodness sakes!) and Nicky Ottav (ex-club kid turned drag queen). Model and Hole Pics regular Cherry Jaymes will also grace the stage.
How much: $18.36 including fees
That’s it for this dispatch. If you liked it please consider hitting the heart button on this post or forwarding this email to a pal! If you’re the pal please subscribe. I write once a week about upcoming worthy events underground, news & gossip, and gay shit. You can send me tips about those things by emailing thedeviantdispatch@gmail.com. If you care about drag queens, illegal parties, independent music/art/film/fashion, Charli XCX, and rebellion, you need to support The Deviant Dispatch.