Popular culture, ways of struggle and the alternative, through Charli XCX
and hyperpop music
by Malcolm James
This paper addresses changes in sound culture arising in tandem with the acceleration of
digital networked culture brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines how Charli
XCX used live streams to connect with her fan base during the pandemic, as she made her
fourth studio album How I’m Feeling Now. James argues that the mediation of the music
through social media transforms it from sound to hypersound, which alters its meaning
making and politics. This is explored through two aspects of Charli XCX’s music: on the one
hand, the construction of an anti-normie position that is nevertheless aligned with the aims of commercial capitalism and, on the other, a queer mode of enjoyment that articulates a more radical and universalist common feeling.
Download full paper here.