Over the past decade, nothing major has changed regarding the nature of Charli XCX’s live shows, only the circumstances. At the heart of her performance is the raw, unencumbered delivery of her songs – the zoom of a fast car, the nervous sweat of a party, the sure confidence in controlling the auxiliary sounds – that’s what makes her feel like herself these days. I changed from being a pop singer who creates things on my own. For a star that requires almost impossible qualities.
All of that was on full display at the first of two Los Angeles stops at the Kia Forum on the Sweat Tour, which began in Detroit last month. For Charli and her co-headliner Troye Sivan, the focus has changed. Over the years, Charli has risen from silo star to pop elite, as if her ambitions have finally caught up with her. Sivan, on the other hand, only digs deeper, exploring his own queerness by leaning into erotic representations of sexuality and tropes of masculinity and femininity.
Ironically, for Charlie, her trajectory over the past four months has buoyed her to exactly the same level as the pop stardom she’s consistently lampooned. Her sixth studio album, Brat, was released in June to unexpected enthusiasm. Never before have her records reached the cultural tipping point she so tirelessly pursued, and “Brat Summer” has become a way of life for fans old and new. “Brat” meant a 365-day party girl, someone like Julia everywhere (Fox, in case you don’t know what I mean). It was soon adopted as a spirit, or mantra. The slime green of the album cover went from raw aesthetic to fashion. When the vice president became the Democratic candidate for the upcoming election, Charli tweeted, “Kamala is a brat.” The header of the Harris campaign’s X account immediately turned green.
This has made the Sweat Tour one of the hottest tickets on the market. Throughout the two-hour show, the duo featured a breathless, rave-like performance that included a mini-set focused on their latest album – three songs by Charli and two by Sivan. Collected.
For Charlie, that would be “Brat.” It’s not necessarily a remix album that was released last week, but it enlisted Kesha for a freshly unboxed version of “Spring Breakers” and a run-through of her signature hit “Tik Tok.” Her performance was raw and pointed. As she has done throughout her career, as she pumps her fists in the air, writhes around on stage, flips off the audience, and throws staples from her catalog all over the place, her career certainly has its roots. I tried to remind her regularly of certain things (she played “Vroom Vroom,” “Track 10,” and even Icona Pop’s “I Love It”). There was nothing strikingly new about her live set – it’s usually just Charlie, Mike and the audience – but the scope changed, and at the Forum show, it seemed like the moment met her.
Sivan took a more collaborative approach when performing songs from his latest album, Something to Give Each Other, embodying what we traditionally expect from headliners. I gathered a group of shabby backup dancers. The pop star legend would lead you to expect some serious choreography, but Sivan is famous for the arm-in-arm moves, swinging kicks, and obscene choreography of his music videos for “Rush” and “One of Your Girls.” They reimagined the lap dance and performed the choreography beautifully. He brought out Tate McRae for a quick-hitting version of his collaboration with Regard, “You,” and reached his arms toward a web of LED ropes at the end of “Rager Teenager!”
Of course there were crossovers. They reinterpreted their first collaboration, “1999,” with fewer peppy piano hits and more industrial color, and closed the show together singing a remix of Charli’s “Talk Talk.” Ta. The crowd reaction wasn’t quite as foundation-shaking as reports from the New York show might suggest, but considering the Los Angeles crowd was so coolly dismissed, it’s understandable why. Dew.
Venues may have changed — Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum are new territory for Charlie and Sivan, at least as headliners (at one point, Sivan said he last opened for Robin on the same stage). ) — but the party’s ambitions have not changed. And they seemed at home at the more intimate Forum Club, where Spotify held the tour’s afterparty. It was an assault on the senses. Charli manned the DJ decks alongside her fiancé George Daniel and Zoe Glitter, and there were familiar faces everywhere you looked. In one corner were Fergie, Jenny from Blackpink, Halsey, Lily-Rose Depp, and Barbie Ferreira. The crowd was sprinkled with Kaia Gerber, Kate Berlant, Dom Dollar, Benny Blanco and more.
It’s not just that Charlie and Troy’s stock has gone up, which certainly helped, but it’s also that they’ve captured the zeitgeist in a way they always hinted at. Audiences and celebrities seem drawn to its casualness, its attention-grabbing intangible qualities. The Sweat Tour revealed much about two pop stars who continue to grow as they draw fans into their orbit.
