Charli XCX has hinted that she wants to record a Lou Reed-inspired album with Clairo.
The hints come after the ‘Von Dutch’ singer first shared her appreciation for The Velvet Underground icon last year – hinting that her hit ‘Brat‘ album could have been her last if she weren’t so intrigued about exploring a record inspired by him.
“I was like, ‘Actually, that could be cool if I didn’t really make music anymore after this’,” she told a fan online last summer. “I’m definitely thinking about it… I’m just so deep in this, I can’t see outside of ‘brat’, but it’s funny. I kind of want to make a Lou Reed record, to be honest. That would definitely be a pretty big swing.”
Now, following their live collaboration of ‘Sophia’ at the Melbourne edition of Laneway Festival 2025 last Friday (February 14), Charli posted a video which was shared by a fan site on Instagram in which she spoke about how much she enjoyed her team up.
She said of the performance: “I really had fun doing it and it got me thinking, what if we made a record with guitars or strings or both. Lou Reed era maybe, I dunno just saying.”
‘Sofia’ appears on Clairo’s 2019 debut studio record ‘Immunity’. Clairo also features on Charli’s 2019 track along with ‘February 2017’ along with Yaeji.
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In a five-star review of the LP, NME called ‘Sofia’ “one of the most infectious and lively songs on the album” that “bounces on a Strokes-y staccato strum and Danielle Haim’s punchy drum beats”.
The track is a far cry from anything on Charli’s hugely successful 2024 dance album ‘Brat’ and her comments do suggest a departure from her recent material is on the cards.
They also echo comments made by the pop star’s producers who recently revealed that her next full-length effort is currently leaning towards being “anti-Brat”.
“Chatting to Charli now, there is a desire in her to do the complete opposite thing again, which is very in keeping with her ethos. Some of the conversations we’re having and music we’ve been playing around with the last couple of months have been completely the opposite,” said producer Finn Keane.
“I love that spirit. It’s the iconoclastic impulse to rebuild something completely different, to show that you actually could do this other thing, this whole other side of your artistry.”
Charli echoed her love of Lou Reed again last December, when she named the 1967 album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’ as “the apex of fine art” during speech at Variety’s Hitmakers Awards.
Elsewhere, Charli won three awards at the Grammys 2025 earlier this month: Best Dance Pop Recording (‘Von Dutch’), Best Dance/Electronic Album (‘Brat’) and Best Recording Package (‘Brat’).
She is up for five prizes at next month’s BRIT Awards 2025 including Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year (‘Brat’).