We only threw this party for HIM
The mystery man taking the BRAT tour by storm + Rock Hall inductees and virgin summer
I saw the first night of Charli xcx’s run of Brooklyn Barclays shows on Wednesday. The stage work she does cannot possibly be easy—no backup dancers, few set pieces and, in the case of Wednesday night, no guest stars.
To hold the attention of an arena for an hour and a half is no small feat, and Charli’s team clearly tried to incorporate ~visual intrigue~ to keep the audience entertained. I was struck by the choice to have Charli dance in fake rain during, “Track 10,” her set’s second to last song. When she sings “I Love It” to close out the show, she’s all wet!
Other visual elements included: curtains that said “BRAT” and “PARTY,” a glow-stick-like rope she kinda swung back and forth (?), a wine glass (of water and lemon??) and him.
For at least a quarter of her show, Charli has a camera guy follow her around to broadcast closeups to the arena. And she puts him to work. My dude runs down the stage runway with her. He skips in circles around her. Lunges toward her for the perfect zoom effect. All while wearing sensible footwear. How did he get this job? Were there auditions? Did he receive instructions, like, “zoom in on Charli’s butt during this chorus” or “run as fast as you can RIGHT on the beat drop”? Who is he? And how can we honor his work? Please let me know.
Look at him go!
💌 LOVE NOTES 💌
Quick beats from the week:
Barbra Streisand is making an album featuring Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande? We’re going to need another 1,000+ page book on this.
Courteney Cox can play the drums. And the piano!
The Rock Hall of Fame will induct Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden and the White Stripes. One woman out of seven inductees (unless you count Meg White!). But the only other woman on the shortlist to begin with was Mariah Carey. However, Phish fans are the most upset.
Lorde announced an album called “Virgin.” I’m scared! Thank you FONC Lydia for this tweet:
I nearly missed that Indigo de Souza also announced a new album. It’s called “Precipice,” and I’m digging the first single, “Heartthrob.” Is this going to be a more upbeat record?
Two more new songs you should check out: “Cold Heart” by Nilüfer Yanya and “Metal” by the Beths.
FONC Jordan brought it to my attention that Katie Gavin shared her Spotify profile. I’m now going through all of her playlists, and I’m particularly excited about ones called “laugh in the morning,” “ode on a grecian run” and “getting ready to fuck.”
🚨 VIBE CHECK 🚨
What the people are actually listening to:
We took two weeks off of checking the charts, and not much has changed. “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar & SZA is still the No. 1 song in the U.S.
Two people’s pop princesses I want to shout out: Addison Rae’s “Headphones On” debuted at No. 87 and Charli’s “party 4 u” from her 2020 album “how i’m feeling now” joined the Hot 100 (at 95) for the first time, thanks to TikTok.
I wonder where Lorde’s “What Was That” will debut next week…Stay tuned!
😘 FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE 😘
Today’s notable releases:
“If You Asked for a Picture,” by Blondshell
Animaru, by Mei Semones
There are only two things you actually need to know about me. My name is Natalia and my favorite podcast is Las Culturistas. They end every episode with a song. I end every newsletter with a song.
Do you really wanna know where I was April 29? If you’re an ally, you listened to “High Fidelity” by Taylor Swift on Tuesday.
P.S. As a New Crush subscriber, you get EXCLUSIVE access to our Currently Crushing playlist, which I update monthly with my favorite new songs.