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There was a time not too long ago when influencers were hocking flat tummy teas while showing off their perfectly-photoshopped faces and bodies to sell the idea of “hotness.” Some might say that if you were gullible enough to buy the product, drink the tea, and spend all day running to the bathroom, that choice was entirely on you. You were the one that got duped; how could you possibly think that a packet of poison sold to you by a Kardashian clone was going to change your life? But not Charli XCX.
The megawatt pop star understands what it’s like to want to feel hot, so much so that she’s crafted an entire sect of her career around that fleeting feeling of self-obsession. Her songs are intended to be the sonic version of the purported effects of a flat tummy tea: beat-heavy distillations of images and sounds that make you feel gorgeous just by listening to them. Her latest single, “Hot Girl,” proves just that.
A large chunk of XCX’s music is designed to delight the curious listener with charming, self-indulgent lyrics and propulsive, synth-heavy beats that make it impossible not to dance along with her.