Near the end of her Sunday-night set at the Pitchfork Music Festival, Charlotte Emma Aitchison yelled, “Make some noise if me, Charli XCX, is one of the top 15 pop stars in the world!” The massive crowd, which stretched from the stage to the baseball diamond half a park away, howled in response. “Keeping it arrogant, but also fair, you know?” smirked Charli from behind black sunglasses.
The highlight of the set was Charli’s most recent single, “Gone,” a duet with Christine & the Queens that she debuted in May at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. The studio version (complete with bondage-heavy video) dropped only last week, but countless fans at Pitchfork were already earnestly mouthing every word. It’s a simmering, anxious attempt at catharsis built around a chorus of unanswered questions, culminating in “Why do we love?” The finale of Charli’s emotional performance was a dance of near abandon during the stuttering vocal breakdown that closes the song, a moment that felt both celebratory and incredibly necessary—it was a signal to the crowd that they could finally take a breath after three and a half minutes of tension.
