- 2023-10-20
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MUSIC
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Charli XCX Premieres New Song “In The City” with Sam Smith on BBC Radio 1
British singer-songwriter Charli XCX premiered a new song “In The City” on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo.
This time, she teamed up with British singer-songwriter Sam Smith on the track.
This marks the first collaboration between Charli XCX and Sam Smith.
The song is the follow-up to "Speed Drive", which is featured on the motion picture soundtrack “Barbie: The Album”.
The track was written by Charlotte Aitchison, Omer Fedi, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Sam Smith, and Alexander Guy Cook. Produced by A.G. Cook, Charli XCX, George Daniel, ILYA, and Omer Fedi.
Charli XCX said of the song, “The song is about finding the people you truly love and connect with through wild nights out and partying in magical places. It’s about feeling accepted, the magnificence of being welcomed into queer spaces and those once in a lifetime people you get to meet when you’re there”
Sam Smith added, “Charli is a force and getting creative with her is so much fun. This track is about freedom and those unforgettable nights of abandon. I loved every minute we spent together making it.”- Charli XCX told Clara Amfo about the song, “I mean, what's funny is I think everybody thinks that this song is about like me like sipping over my boyfriend, but it's like totally not. Even though he's great. It's like just not really about him. It's kind of about like, when I was 16, I started going up to London to go to play and perform in queer clubs. And I didn't grow up around a lot of queer culture really. And so this was kind of my first experience like being in those kind of environments where I was suddenly learning so much about like, fashion and art and music and language and I was so inspired and influence and I feel like when I was there in these clubs in my absolutely like the outfits.”
She continued, “Anyway, those days where you would like buy, you know, like children's toys and put them on ribbons around your neck those days. I was dressed like that. But yeah, I was going to these clubs and I felt like for the first time I was kind of meeting these people who like got me and who saw me and so many people who I met at that time in my life are still in my life. And I just really found this community of people who made me feel really safe and understood and kind of like, understood me before I even understood myself, so this song is kind of like an ode to that time in my life.” -
She added, “And so that's what it's about and then when I kind of started making this, like Sam and I had been speaking for a long time about, you know, doing a song and we're from the same town actually, which is kind of a secret that not many people know. I was growing up didn't but we went to I know the school that they went to, very familiar with the school that they went to, and they know the school that I went to, and when they first started releasing music, I was very aware Oh, Sam is from this area, you know, so we crossed paths like more when we both started doing music and we always spoke about doing a song together. And then this one just kind of felt right because I know that Sam obviously like feels the same way about the LGBTQ plus community and is a really important member of that community. And so for us to like connect on this kind of like love song for those spaces was really cool. And they like absolutely crushed them. Verse sounds epic.”
She said, “I feel vital. It really does feel vital because you know, I feel like like obviously like a huge cornerstone of the LGBTQ plus community as the trans community and I feel like particularly in the UK right now. That community is extremely under threat. I mean, they always have been but right now, in particular, they really are. So I feel like putting a song out like this right now. Feels, as I said, it's just like an ode to that community. And I think it's really important for like people in power to just remember that. It's really hard to be from a marginalized community. And it's really important to raise those people up and celebrate them and understand them and listen to them, rather than to kind of vilify that and so I've always felt even when I was 16 like going into those spaces. I felt, so uncared for, and seen and so I just kind of want to say thank you for that and thank you to my LGBTQ plus fans, and thank you to Sam for being the song and yeah, to the community for always making me feel embraced as an artist but also as that like 16 year old kid like wearing teapots around my neck, coming into London like looking absolutely bizarre. I've always felt very looked after and say.” - source : BBC Radio 1
