Charli XCX's First Song She Made In Quarantine Is Here — And It's Wild

Charli XCX wasn't kidding as soon as she reported that she's been hard at work on a new album, How I'm Feeling Now. Today (April 9), she's released the initial song from it — the robotic ballad that is "Forever." It's about sheer adoration, to the most mechanical degree.


If toasters listened to songs as soon as they made love, "Forever," would be on their playlist. It unfolds from a harsh beginning of boiling synths into a slightly smoother sore throat of a cyborg who's doing its best impression of a lovestruck human. A robotic wind glosses over this apocalyptic Terminator-like landscape, bringing a sugary presence to the track that sings about its intense infatuation with a partner. It's Charli in case you can't tell, buried beneath all manner of cords, wires, and flashing buttons.


Charli's love here's so enviable. She took a dive into the blue with her feelings and right now she's swimming in love, as she knew she would. "I will usually love you/ I'll love you forever/ Even we're not together/ will constantly love you," she sings with giant, pink, pulsating hearts in her animated eyes. The complete amorous spill will bring a tear to your eye. This is a love that survives being hunkered down with each other in a quarantine and driving each other crazy. As electrical as "Forever" sounds, it feels extremely human.


It took just two days for Charli to prepare "Forever." In a statement, she revealed that she collaborated virtually with frequent collaborators A.G Cook and BJ Burton. "This is a working process that will continue during the album, with the entirety of the project being written, recorded, produced and released throughout quarantine because of the world pandemic," it reads.


That project, How I'm Feeling Now, is currently set to arrive on May 15. Last month, she revealed in one of her "self quarantine diary" entries that she was hard at work on completing the LP. "I had one song left to write and then it was all about finishing and production and artwork etc. Certainly things have slowed right now nevertheless I do feel excited to wrap this up and be releasing new music soon, naturally only any time it's ready," she wrote.


Later in that same entry, she gave out some specifics about what to expect with How I'm Feeling Now. "What can I tell you about this album.... Well, there really are much less collaborations, Chris and I've Been talking about reuniting (alongside someone else), it has felt very quick to create, AG [Cook] is involved, I want it to be quite short in comparison to CHARLI, there really are a lot of songs about sex and physicality."


Take a listen to Charli's robotic new love song "Forever" up above.