In the venn diagram of the music world, the circle labeled “popular” and the one labeled “hip/trendy/cool” are overlapping more than ever, creating an ever-expanding union in which burgeoning pop stars can be loved by both the elite and the general populace. Charli XCX is clearly one of these artists, along with the likes of Lorde and Icona Pop (who are even more successful at straddling this line).

A few weeks ago, Grantland‘s Amos Barshad said something in his weekly “Songs of the Week” column that resonated with me. Accompanying Lorde’s “Team,” Barshad had this blurb:

I’ll be honest: I’m a little conflicted about the rise of Lorde because I spent some time with Charli XCX earlier this year, and I was kind of pulling for the latter to fill the “precocious frizzy-haired anti-pop star breakout from Britain and/or the British Empire” role.

As someone who’s been pulling for Charli for some time now, I feel his pain. Who is this Lorde? Where did she come from? Why has she become the figure I wanted Charli to be?

Charli XCX’s True Romance was released earlier this year and, while receiving fairly high praise all around, didn’t quite hit as I had hoped. I’m sure she and her entourage of publicists felt similarly. Perhaps that is why, only five months after True Romance dropped, we’re already getting a new, more radio-friendly single from an as yet unnamed second album. If all else fails, maybe a Rihanna-like prolificity will win the public’s love.

Full of dancing robots, “candid” moments, bright colors, and a striking candy cane outfit, the Ryan Andrews-directed video certainly looks like it wants some attention, and “Superlove” is quite clearly aiming to lodge itself in your skull all morning, afternoon, and night for the next few days.

It worked on me. I’m in your corner, Charli. Sure, everyone’s all up on Lorde and Sky right now, but they’ll be back.

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Tyler Hanan

Tyler raves about movies on the Let The Right Films In podcast. Listen to him make jokes over his beleaguered cohost Kayla St. Onge and their more qualified guests who deserve so much better at soundcloud.com/ltrfipod. Find him on Twitter @tylerhanan.

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