Charli XCX's Guide To Being An Internet Girlie, From Attitude To Style

The latest single from Charli XCX’s new album Brat has been unleashed on the world. Following 'Von Dutch', 'Club Classics' and 'B2B', her latest single '360' is no exception to the list of hits that the star has released, but her new track has packed the biggest punch. And for good reason.

If you haven't heard it yet (watch the video at the top of this article), let's just say the song is an absolute electro-pop ear-worm. The opening has the sort of inescapable catchiness of a ringtone (which is likely intentional, considering the video starts with the singer texting musician-model Gabbriette), before plunging into XCX’s now trademark hybrid of spoken word-singing. The song's lyrics begin: 'I went my own way and I made it, I’m your favourite reference baby.' And she’s right. Undoubtedly the accompanying music video will be on mood boards for years to come.

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'360' delivers on the visuals as much as the sound. Directed by Aidan Zamiri, the video’s premise involves the hottest 'it'-girls from popular culture, who are on a mission to ‘fulfil the prophecy of finding a new hot internet girl…’. As soon as their objectives are met, Charli can sing '360'.

In the video, we see XCX swiftly select the waitress (@randomcontrol) to be an addition to her girl 'gang', while simultaneously poking fun at the fickleness of the influencer generation we find ourselves immersed between, and being one of the first to take a light-hearted jab at herself. At the dinner table is also none other than Julia Fox, her best friend Richie Shazam, actors Rachel Sennott and Chloe Cherry, among others.

Other key scenes in the video include XCX straddling a man on a hospital bed with model du jour Alex Consani in a makeshift gym on a vibration plate while attempting to pour a glass of red wine in a white vest. XCX is also seen taking selfies in a driver’s license style photobooth alongside actors Hari Nef and Blizzy Mcguire.

YouTube favourite Emma Chamberlain is seen in a car pileup with fellow YouTuber Quen Blackwell checking her lip-gloss. The pinnacle scene? The archetype of cool Chloë Sevigny, who exits a blacked out convertible to strut down an abandoned road with XCX, smoking a cigarette and flicking it away before it ignites a bin, naturally.

The finale of the video sees the internet generations assemble alongside this month’s ELLE digital cover star, Tess McMillan.

The video alone is a name-drop extravaganza, and with that comes an equally covetable amount of cult fashion, with EYTYS, Y-Project, Dion Lee, Vacquera, Courreges, Saint Laurent, KNWLS and Marni all featured (the latter of whom XCX wore custom to the MET Gala earlier this month).

Needless to say, the internet has gone wild following the song's release, dubbing the video the Gen-Z 'fashion girlie' equivalent to Taylor Swift’s 'Bad Blood' music video.

It's clear that '360' is for generation ‘chronically online’, and that's exactly how to be a modern-day icon according to XCX. Like Chamberlain and Mcguire, you can make an IRL career out of the URL. In the words of Richie Shazam, ‘you have to be, like, known. But at the same time, unknowable’. From the looks of the '360' video, those keen to emulate the internet girlie aesthetic should probably also have bleached eyebrows and have some sort of romantic connection to a musician to become part of their 'gang'.

Whether you’re a multi-hyphenate with a blue tick or not, XCX continues to climb the ranks as pop’s rebel princess, and with this release likely to be the song of the summer, her reign is only growing. Watch this space.

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