Charli XCX “hates” her debut mixtape she made aged 14: “But I think there was a style there, a direction”

nme.com:

Charli XCX has opened up about her debut mixtape ‘14’, admitting that she “hates” it, while also saying that it has “style” and “direction”.The singer has had a huge 2024 with her sixth studio album ‘Brat’, but when she was making her first moves in music in the ‘00s, this level of stardom would have seemed a long way off.When she was 14 years old, she was learning to play guitar and keyboards, uploading tracks to MySpace and playing the occasional acoustic gig.

She assembled her first full mixtape around that time, appropriately titled ‘14’, and had it pressed on CD.Those tracks are now available to listen to online, but Charli herself has mixed feelings about them.Speaking to Variety, she has said: “God, I hate that album so much.

I haven’t listened to it for a decade, at least. It was sort of transitional – there are guitar[-based] songs on that record, but also elements of me exploring dance music.

Some of those songs are terrible, but I think there was a style there, a direction, that a few people caught on to.”Not long after that, Charli discovered club music and she was soon set on the path we see now. “I did a few small acoustic gigs, but I never felt particularly myself, singing on a stage with a guitar,” she continued.