Sucker is pop-punk, radically redefined and dragged, middle fingers waving, into the future.
Sucker’s greatest musical weapon is Aitchison’s voice — a posh, melodramatic caterwaul that will encourage either adoration or virulent hatred for all of its full-throated, Union Jack swagger.
Right now she looks unstoppable.
Sucker is full colour power pop perfection. Fast paced, bouncing and packed with quirky electronic punctuation.
'Break the Rules' sounds like a gang of girl bikers kicking in the door of a warehouse rave.
A sneery, nagging, chanty, leopardskin-toting, Lolita-nodding take on several kinds of pop that, despite its dissemination, warrants praise and affection on its home soil debut.
Punchy aggression meets bubblegum sweetness: Sucker is a cocky riposte to anyone who doubted the 22-year-old Brit.
This collection’s predecessor, 2013’s ‘True Romance’, showcased an artist willing to take on the pop world. ‘Sucker’ finds that same, singular performer rewriting the rules entirely, never mind breaking any, and beating pop at its own game.
Sucker is no retro gesture: Charli runs the album's rock & roll guitars and attitude through enough distressed digital production and thumb-type vernacular to make this the first fully updated iteration of punk pop in ages.
Sucker is a perfect transition into the conventional zeitgeist. It's cynical, it's coy, it's assertive, but it's catchy as they come, with no pandering, no putting on airs and no shortage of substance.
It succeeds as an introduction to Charli XCX the Pop Star while retaining her whip-smart songwriting and attitude.
Sucker is just an exceptionally good pop album.
Sucker is a one-two punch of wit and grit, as irreverently bratty as the lollipop Charli holds on the cover yet never impersonal, perfunctory, or insincere.
Sucker has a sonic density and a breadth of ideas that bely its lyrical simplicity.
Sucker, for all its charms, occasionally comes off as one-dimensional. But there were few records this year as sparkly and blindingly colorful, with production values that revel in excess and a mischievous spirit that rivals the best of Charli’s rebellious, sexually adventurous forebears.
For all her bratty star power, Charli XCX’s purest magic lies in the intimate—not the irreverent.
An album that is unashamedly pop but with a refreshing amount of self-awareness and craft to back it up.
For her second album Sucker, Charli has created a shotgun blast of EDM-heavy pop that doesn't feel formulaic like so many other major label releases that look to blow up dance floors.
More than a dozen collaborators — including Ariel Pink, Ariel Rechtshaid and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij — helped realize these 14 tracks, but their voices never overshadow Aitchison, who is finally given the spotlight she's rightfully earned.
Sucker is a remarkably refined album, with no song longer than four-minutes and no filler to speak of.
While she may not have the precision marketing behind her of someone like Taylor Swift, Charli XCX’s Sucker is a defiant statement of her intent to do things her way.
It does craft a distinct sound that represents a significant step forward in turning her into a bona fide solo act.
If her songwriting occasionally misfires, churning out stuff that’s indistinguishable from every other indistinguishable song on the Radio 1 playlist – the Rita Ora feature Doing It is a case in point - it’s frequently dead on target.
Refreshingly free of focus-grouped compromises, Sucker is certainly full of character. It's just that the character is a cartoon.
CHARLI XCX’S DISCOGRAPHY DIVE #2
After enjoying but not being super impressed with “True Romance”, I was excited to hear “Sucker”, which has a few songs I do know. And while I do enjoy it and prefer it to True Romance, it still isn’t as boundary pushing or memorable as I usually expect from her. It has more memorable highlights than her debut for me, such as “Break The Rules”, “London Queen”, and “Boom Clap”, but it still ... read more
Sucker is intensely front loaded, there are many songs on the back half that are equally as catchy as the rest but are ten times as repetitive. I’m a *sucker* for Charli so it doesn’t bother me too much, but it definitely sticks out when so much of her other work is not as redundant.
EDIT: yeah, so i thought that this was an awesome album a few months ago, but its basic pop, still good, but basic.
original review:
this was a surprise to me. i first heard boom clap when the trailers for "the fault in our stars" came out, and i thought it was a catchy song, but was unsure how long it would last. charli xcx proved herself with this very strong album full of radio ready pop anthems. i love the different feels of each track, and just charli's expression put into the ... read more
a perfectly executed pop album. one feel-good, irresistible, instantly catchy tune after another.
favs: sucker // boom clap // doing it // ♡ die tonight
least favs: london queen // gold coins
1 | Sucker 2:43 | 72 |
2 | Break the Rules 3:23 | 76 |
3 | London Queen 2:51 | 68 |
4 | Breaking Up 2:17 | 69 |
5 | Gold Coins 3:02 | 68 |
6 | Boom Clap 2:49 | 85 |
7 | Doing It 3:48 feat. Rita Ora | 79 |
8 | Body of My Own 2:45 | 71 |
9 | Famous 3:51 | 74 |
10 | Hanging Around 3:18 | 62 |
11 | Die Tonight 2:51 | 66 |
12 | Caught in the Middle 3:01 | 69 |
13 | Need Ur Luv 3:45 | 71 |
#6 | / | Rolling Stone |
#7 | / | Popjustice |
#9 | / | Flavorwire |
#12 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#16 | / | Digital Spy |
#30 | / | Amazon |
#32 | / | Complex |
#32 | / | Grantland (Steven Hyden) |
#32 | / | NME |
#34 | / | Pazz & Jop |