Charli XCX: True Romance [ASYLUM]

Why you'll love it

Charli XCX's debut album back on vinyl, the dark-pop record she made with Ariel Rechtshaid and Patrik Berger before "I Love It" and "Boom Clap" made her a star. "Nuclear Seasons", "You (Ha Ha Ha)" and "You're The One" all came off it.

This edition

• Reissue of the 2013 debut album
• Thirteen tracks across two sides, from "Nuclear Seasons" to "Lock You Up"

About the album

Long before brat, Charli XCX was a teenager from Essex trying to find producers in Los Angeles who understood what she was after. It didn't click until she met Ariel Rechtshaid, with whom she wrote "Stay Away" in a two-hour session, and Swedish producer Patrik Berger, who sent her the beat that became Icona Pop's "I Love It". That one she gave away; it went to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 anyway.

True Romance, named after the Tony Scott film, is the record she kept for herself: synth-pop and goth-pop with a heart on its sleeve, from "Nuclear Seasons" to the playful "You (Ha Ha Ha)" and the Siouxsie-shaded "You're The One". It's the blueprint for a lot of what pop sounded like a decade later. Ahead of its time is a cliché, so we'll just say the rest of the charts took a while to catch up.

Tracklist

Listen

Out October 23, 2026 on Asylum, a reissue of the 2013 album.