http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/arts/music/review-charli-xcxs-sucker.html 2014-12-16 00:33:28 Review: Charli XCX’s ‘Sucker’ “Sucker” is far more direct than Charli XCX’s first album; it’s smart, loud, cheeky, gimmick-loving pop, intent on making every song go bang. === “Sucker” Charli XCX For Charli XCX, who was born Charlotte Aitchison, what happened between albums were hits. There was the gleeful, shout-along There’s plenty going on behind the album’s show of blatancy. The music is brash and glossy, but its attack is varied and full of clever moments. About half of the album was produced by Patrik Berger, who produced Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and who encourages Charli XCX’s bratty side. The rest of the songs enlist full-time hitmakers, indie-rock studio nerds and producers who straddle both camps, like Charli XCX’s voice, which rises from throaty richness to cheerleader enthusiasm, gets all sorts of backdrops behind her straightforward verse-chorus-verse. There’s lean, stereo-bouncing new wave staccato in “London Queen”; synthetic pomp in “Boom Clap”; digitized girl-group memories in “Need Ur Luv”; a touch of Abba in the choruses of “Sucker”; Weezer’s fat drums and distorted but crisp guitars in “Hanging Around” (produced by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer); and an improbable blend of grunge and trance in The determination to be a pop hitmaker isn’t just in the sound and structure of the songs; it’s in the lyrics, too. When she’s not singing about hanging out with friends, being in love, holding on, breaking up or shrugging off a boyfriend in favor of pleasuring herself, Charli XCX fixates on fame and wealth. In “London Queen,” she moves to Hollywood and tells her mother she’s not coming back until she has “all gold plaques”; “Gold Coins” is a hyperbolic dream of wealth. “Famous” — which has whistling along with booming and clapping — could be Charli XCX’s corollary to Lorde’s “Royals”; she sings about a thrill-seeking Friday night of taking “your boyfriend’s car” and crashing parties “just like we’re famous.” She’s jokingly self-aware but also eager to achieve. The ambition and calculation on “Sucker” are overt but not a deal-breaker. It’s a brittle, professional album full of sonic treats. The question is, what will Charli XCX want to say once she gets the pop audience she craves?