Charli XCX Speaks on Her ‘Sometimes Volatile' Global Impact, Universal Wins Publisher of the Year and More From 2024 ASCAP Pop Awards
Charli XCX was honored with the ASCAP Global Impact award during the organization’s 2024 Pop Awards at the Houdini Estate in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Surrounded by the late, legendary escape artist’s lavish green gardens, Charli accepted one of the most prestigious awards of the night from veteran songwriter Paul Williams, president and chairman of the board for ASCAP.
“If I feel that my work is making people overwhelmingly happy or making others unbelievably annoyed, then I know that I’m doing my job properly,” the avant-pop singer and producer said in her acceptance speech. “And whilst I love music, I’m personally more interested in the role of pop stars and public figures in parallel to art, and how we can use all the tools that we have at our fingertips to challenge current social, cultural, and creative norms. For me, being a true artist with global impact is much more than just having a good voice or a big song or a good album… it’s about having a personal identity, which can sometimes be volatile – sorry to my team, I love you – It can’t be tamed by teams. It can’t be squeezed neatly into an easily defined box and it can never ever, really, truly be replicated.”
Ahead of the show, Charli teased her upcoming record, “Brat,” on the carpet with Variety, saying “We’ve been testing the album out in different club settings and the one we played in [Brooklyn with the Dare], is unfinished and we were mixing that song today actually, so we kind of learned from playing it in that environment, and we’ve tweaked some things.”
Charli XCX at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards held at The Houdini Estate on May 8, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
While in Brooklyn, Charli also teased songs at a public event where she stood atop a van with multiple speakers with a sea of hundreds as her audience. “It was so fun and really rowdy,” she says. “I damaged the car and felt horrible about it. Everyone was meme-ing me, making the comparison to Michael Jackson on top of an SUV. It was definitely a surreal moment to see just how many people showed up.”
Charli also took some time to reflect on her long career, and reaping the rewards she sowed with her 2013 debut, “True Romance,” to her experimental “Pop 2,” and now “Brat.”
“In the past, I’ve struggled to fully be myself all the time and I feel more embraced than ever from the fans, from the industry and with things like [this Global Impact Award],” she said. “It’s just like a kind of vibrance that I feel for my fan base and it’s nice that it’s happening now whilst I truly feel like I’m just being me.”
On stage, Charli concluded her acceptance with a toast to “all the real artists out there,” and pointed to Chappell Roan and said, “You are absolutely one of them.”
Roan was there to present Dan Nigro with the songwriter of the year award, a trophy he shares with Olivia Rodrigo. In her speech, Roan touched on Nigro’s past, joking she discovered him from his appearance in a Pizza Hut commercial, and later praising his role in Sky Ferreira’s debut album.
Nigro told Variety the pair had started working on Roan’s upcoming album in the last few days. Roan is just one of the many rising pop stars in Nigro’s repertoire of collaborators that also includes Conan Gray. “I’m just so lucky that I get to work with awesome people that make amazing music,” he said.
Meanwhile, Roan shared praise for another pop singer, Sabrina Carpenter, who is having a major moment with her single “Espresso,” the No. 4 song in United States, as of last week.
“I love ‘Espresso.’ I love it so much,” she said. “She invited me into her Coachella trailer when we were there and I got to talk to her for the first time and it was just so… I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to be friends with more pop girls because I feel crazy sometimes and having someone going through it at the same time as you can be so grounding in a way. I just love to see the girls win.”
Chappell Roan at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards held at The Houdini Estate on May 8, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Steph Jones, who co-wrote Espresso with fellow honoree Amy Allen, and Julian Bunetta, gushed about Carpenter saying, “I met her when she was 16 or 17 so it feels so cool to see where she’s headed now. We always knew she had that ‘it factor,’ and I’ve just always been the biggest fan. I would never be able to do what she does – she’s always ten minutes early to sessions, there’s a drive and a level of perseverance and dedication to the craft that she has that is incomparable.”
Jones also said she is working on Carpenter’s upcoming, unannounced album. Leon Thomas, an honoree for SZA’s “Snooze,” also revealed he is currently producing R&B star Giveon’s next project.
Steph Jones at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards held at The Houdini Estate on May 8, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
The ASCAP Pop Awards also honored Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Stay” as the song of the year. The song topped the Billboard Pop, Adult Pop and Rhythmic Airplay charts, and hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Publisher of the year went to Universal Music Publishing Group for songs including “Calm Down,” “Cuff It” (Beyonce), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa), “Barbie World” (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua), “Lavender Haze” (Taylor Swift), and “Paint the Town Red” (Doja Cat),” among others. ASCAP also praised the company for sparring with TikTok over royalty payments and AI policies.
Other 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters include Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff (“All I Want for Christmas Is You”), Dua Lipa (“Dance the Night”), Noah Kahan (“Dial Drunk”), St. Vincent (“Cruel Summer”) and Meghan Trainor (“Made You Look”).
The ASCAP Pop Music Awards chose their winners based on data offered by terrestrial and satellite radio and programmed and on-demand audio streams, all provided by Luminate Data LLC in accordance with ASCAP’s publicly available rules.
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