What you want? Oh, she’s got it. Charli XCX released new single “New Shapes” (“ຖēຟ ŞhคpēŞ,” if you’re nasty) alongside two fellow alt-pop queens, Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek, touted as her “demonically talented friends” in a press release. The song is, expectedly, a club-ready smash, moving Charli further away from the experimental hyperpop of her recent work toward more straightforward synth-pop. It’s not Charli’s first time working with either Caroline or Chris: the former guested on her Pop 2 torch song “Tears,” while the latter dueted on the Charli banger “Gone.” The song was produced by Deaton Chris Anthony and Linus Wiklund, the latter of whom also co-produced “Gone” along with the Charli Sky Ferreira collab “Cross You Out.”
But now, for what you really want: Charli also announced her fifth album, Crash, will be out March 18, 2022. In a press release, she called “New Shapes” “one of the most exquisite tracks from the album.” Crash also includes previous single “Good Ones,” released in September. The album is set to feature collaborators including Charli’s creative director A.G. Cook, True Romance producer Ariel Rechtshaid, pop performer Rina Sawayama, experimental electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never, and the 1975 drummer George Daniel. Charli had previously been hinting at a follow-up to her 2020 project how i’m feeling now on social media. In the press release, she noted that Crash “is the fifth and final album in my record deal” (which also included True Romance, Sucker, and Charli). And on top of it all, Charli’s planning to tour the album in spring 2022, announcing a 37-date tour across North America and Europe.
