Charli XCX opens up about her Indian heritage and feeling like an outsider

Pop superstar Charli XCX has opened up about her complex relationship with her Indian heritage, revealing she doesn't "play that up" because it doesn't "come naturally" to her. The artist, born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, also discussed the intense pressure on public figures to maintain a "moral sanctuary" online.

The 33-year-old, who was raised in Essex by a Scottish father and Indian mother, shared her experiences of feeling like an outsider within both sides of her family. "When I was younger I didn’t really feel like I belonged in either side of my family," she explained on Nicky Reardon’s Nicky at Night podcast. "When I was hanging out every weekend with the Indian side of my family, I would feel like the outsider there. And then when I was at school with a bunch of white girls, I would feel like the outsider there."

This sense of displacement has informed her upcoming album, Music Fashion Film, particularly in the track 'SS26', where she explores the idea of her heritage as a "unique selling point".

Discussing the lyric, she elaborated: "I feel like there is this world where I could really play that up a lot. It doesn’t come natural to me probably because of the way that I engage with being a mixed person." She added that many of her mixed-race friends share this sentiment, finding it "hard to feel like you can like really claim something."

Charli XCX releases 'Music, Fashion, Film' later this month www.indy100.com

Charli XCX clarified that 'SS26' is not about the apocalypse, as some fans speculated, but rather a commentary on the pervasive online culture of moral scrutiny. "I think now more than ever, anyone who is on the internet... there is this sort of level of persona, this level of feeling like you need to be to on the right side of every single conversation and not get things wrong and apologise for things how big or small that you’ve done to ultimately lead you towards some kind of moral sanctuary that will still actually not ever be enough," she stated.

The song, she explained, delves into the various actions one might take to appear "morally pure," such as "stop like smoking cigarettes, do notes app, apologies for things that I’ve done, claim my Indian heritage more etc, and then hopefully lead myself into a place that’s more appealing."

She lamented how this pressure has infiltrated the worlds of music, fashion, and film, which "used to be a place where people could escape and have an opinion and feel safe to talk about things in a non-heated way."

Regarding her new record, Charli XCX described it as "a Charlie XCX album. It’s me. It’s pop for sure but we’re exploring more sort of analogue elements." She also promised a deeply personal exploration of her own "volatile" nature. "I’ve been very, very honest about how volatile I am as a person. I think this album goes into those feelings a lot," she said.

Embracing an "art at all costs" philosophy, she acknowledged the potential personal toll. "Even though it’s selfish and can sometimes be really difficult to coexist with someone who thinks that way. I’ll probably cause people hurt and pain in my life. It’s hard to be with someone, coexist with someone, be a friend of someone who sometimes feels that way but it is what I feel and I’m like working on it."