We're walking on a runway that goes straight to Hell

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

31/07/26 : Music, Fashion, Film - Charli XCX 

Our fourth visit with Charli and our second this year and I'm expecting this to be the usual well put together likeable, whilst not entirely loveable, stuff.

And yeah, that's where we are. It's a bit more backward looking and old school than I was expecting, but the girl certainly knows how to put a choon together. My only other comment would be that nothing really jumped out at me on first listen - so "likeable, but not entirely loveable" is a very fair comment.

We're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week which makes her the first British female artist ever to have two #1 albums in the same year. The rest of the top five are Michael Jackson, Olivia Rodrigo, Snow Patrol (a re-entry) and Olivia Dean - the ladies are definitely winning the charts at the minute, with Sienna Spiro also doing well to hang in there at #6. So what other new entries have we got?

Shania Twain (#7)
This is fine if you happen to like the current Shania Twain who sounds nothing like the old Shania Twain. But I can't say I do.

The Strokes (#8)
I'm not naturally predisposed to The Strokes, so went into this all ready to hate it. But, to my surprise, it's not dreadful and has way more variety across the album than I was expecting - what's going on?!?

Nines (#14)
I know Nines is a hippy-hoppy dude, but I think I still quite like him. Ah no - I very much don't.

Tyla (#43)
I know absolutely nothing about Tyla, so went into this blind (or should that be deaf?). Hmmm - I didn't hate it but it was all a bit same-y and I had no idea how to describe it - fortunately Google tells me it's popiano, so I'm sure that's cleared that up for you.

Songer (#66)
Another one I knew nothing about - and he's another rappy dude. But, I actually didn't mind him at all - there are some pretty clever lyrics here delivered at about 100 mph. I'm never going to listen to it again, but it was certainly impressive - I was reminded of Dave, so was quite surprised to see that Songer is very white.

The highest re-entry is obviously Snow Patrol and it's back because of a 20th anniversary re-release - Luke Combs is the next highest (#81) and there are a few more but nothing of interest except for Taylor Swift sneaking back in at #100. Last week I said that Gracie would be at #5 and I'm some way off because she's at #18 - I assume Charli is going to do better so let's use #5 for her as well (and yes, I could have cheated because I'm running late but I promise I didn't!). And we already know that Taylor has two albums in the chart this week, but the highest one is at #84 so it really feels like a Taylor-free week might be with us soon.

Wikipedia already has a decent amount on the album (205 milliPeppers) but there's remarkably little in there other than saying she did Brat, then Wuthering Heights and then this. The most interesting thing is about the guys on the cover, who are John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese (which I'd completely missed) representing music, fashion and film - get it? Apparently they all came together to be snapped in a random kitchen because Charli asked them too - which is quite some pulling power. Critically the album was generally very highly regarded, although The Daily Telegraph really didn't like it (which makes it go up in my opinion) and commercially, it's done very well getting to #1 in Australia, Belgium, Hungary and New Zealand and #3 in the US.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a CD for £11 but, to no-one's great surprise, you can spend a bit more on it if you want to with £85 getting you the "white In grey ripple with black splatter" vinyl, £225 getting you the 180gm vinyl with 3 limited edition singles and £425 getting you the limited edition "film variant" vinyl complete with signed art card. Ooooh - such a difficult choice to make. I can't say I loved it on first listen but it's certainly a well put together album and has certainly done enough to take the album of the week - I'd have to say the competition wasn't the strongest this week but I will give The Strokes, Tyla and Songer shout-outs for doing their thing well.

24/07/06 - Also decent enough

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