One thing we’ve come to learn and love about Charli XCX is her maximalist odes to excess. Brat took over the world’s imagination by pushing classic dance and club aesthetics into the modern world. At a time when everything in the world felt extremely deflating, the fun, trashy music made for peak escapism.
However, unless you’re a big fan, we don’t often know much about her. For instance, the British singer-songwriter doesn’t draw a ton of attention to the fact that she’s half-Indian. Her father, Jon, is Scottish, and her mother, Shameera, is Indian, according to PEOPLE. How come she doesn’t bring up her heritage more often? Frankly, it’s because people don’t ask.
In an interview with Nicky Reardon, Charli XCX admitted that the reason she hardly acknowledges her Indian background is because people hardly ever inquire. Moreover, being mixed meant she had a hard time navigating her sense of belonging. Rather than play up to it, she’d rather be honest about her struggles with her identity.
“I feel like there is this world where I could really play that up a lot and it just doesn’t come natural to me,” Charli told Reardon. “Probably because of the way that I engage with being a mixed person. Especially when I was younger, I didn’t really feel like I belonged in either.”
Charli XCX Says She Felt Like An ‘Outsider’ Due to Being Mixed
Whenever the pop star would visit both sides of her family, she would have this extreme feeling of isolation. Due to feeling so different from both sides of her family, she struggled with her sense of self for a long time.
“When I was like hanging out like every weekend with my the Indian side of my family, I would feel kind of like the outsider there,” Charli XCX explained. “At school, with like a bunch of white girls, I would feel like the outsider there. So it’s difficult to place yourself and understand your identity. A lot of my friends who are mixed also feel that same way. It’s hard to feel like you can really claim something, but I am really happy to talk about that.”
Charli XCX honed in on the pressures of identity and persona on the song “SS26” from her upcoming album Music, Fashion, Film. There, she croons, “Think my politics could work as a press strategy/And my heritage could give me quite the USP.” Ultimately, the “Apple” singer noted how the song focuses on the stress to appear flawless in the public eye.
“It’s about persona, in a way. It’s about how I think now, more than ever, we… need to be on the right side of every single conversation,” Charli XCX said. “Not get things wrong and apologize 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.”
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