True Romance

Is it worth the time, passion and investment of the listener? To those unfamiliar with XCX, or who only know her in passing, the answer is irrevocably yes; for others, it depends upon the value they place on a well-crafted retrospective.

Like 90s pop stars turned 10s pop sophisticates Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé, Charli XCX stamps her personality across the entire project, and True Romance suggests she'll be worth following for a while.

There isn’t a moment when Charli XCX doesn’t display the kind of wild, brash confidence that other artists take years to arrive at.

Charli XCX isn’t smashing any glass ceilings in pop; she’s perfectly roughing up the edges of a long-standing mold.

Since quite a few of these songs were already road-tested, it's not surprising that this is a strong debut, but just how consistently catchy and personal True Romance is might raise a few eyebrows.

While there's still the odd remnant of Marina-lite pop, this sounds like an imminent star steadily staking a claim to her own turf.

For the most part, it's a breathless ride that gyrates to atomic hip-hop beats and darting synth lines, polished off with XCX's rough-riding narratives.

Early exploits including a ridiculous rhyme about T-Rex amorousness ("Dinosaur Sex"), jabs at vapid art-school scenesters ("Art Bitch" and "!Franchesckaar!"), and some indecipherable indie-dance vocoding ("I Wanna Be Darth Vader"). True Romance is a strident departure from those frivolities so far as solid, true-to-aim songwriting is concerned, but the divergence and a touch of the silliness remains.

She’s the fun pop you don’t have to be embarrassed about listening to, and she’s definitely worth focusing your attention.

Love, lust and longing are chronicled and dissected in True Romance through online relationships being gradually given tangible, tactile form, setting Charli up as a young pop star to be reckoned with.

True Romance is the pop-album equivalent of a wicked Tumblr.

She has the ability to carve out some gorgeous pop songs, but seems to be trying to cover too many bases.

True Romance may not match Aitchison’s high ambitions for her debut, but it’s a hell of a start.

At the moment, her music is best consumed in blog-sized chunks, not as a stodgy 48-minute album.

For now, True Romance is a valiant attempt that doesn’t do much more than provide the soundtrack for “getting ready to go out” songs on tinny laptop speakers.

There’s much to enjoy on True Romance, although it’s probably best sampled in small doses as it doesn’t hang together that successfully over the course of an album.