Charli XCX: There’s no cookie-cutter pop star

Charli XCX doesn't think cookie-cutter pop stars exist.

The 22-year-old singer has risen to prominence during the past two years with songs including Boom Clap and Fancy with Iggy Azalea. But despite being relatively new to the industry, the British star is determined to do things her way.

"I think there's this twenty-first-century idea of what sells records, especially within females, but there's no cookie-cutter pop star," she told Paper Magazine. "Sometimes I think record labels still try and cram artists into that, but the artists who are successful are the ones that tell them to f**k off."

Charli likes to make sure her songs are full of empowering lyrics for her female fans. But despite this, she still feels like misogyny is rife within the music industry.

"There is definitely still a strain of it," she continued. It's sh*t sometimes that there are literally no women working at record labels, and female artists tend to get more questions about their validity as creatives, whereas male artists in the same position don't. It's so frustrating."

However Charli isn't afraid of speaking her mind. And even if it does get her into trouble, she refuses to bite her tongue.
"I don't think I'm the type of person who always says the right thing," she laughed. "In fact, I always say the wrong thing at the wrong time."

While she doesn't think she's a drama queen, Charli recently admitted that she does have a certain way of making sure she gets things done.

"I don't think I'm a diva. I can be a b***h when I want things done, but I don't think that's a bad thing," she told the UK's Fabulous magazine. "If you're a strong woman, people call you a b***h because you're being bossy. If a man does that, he's called 'a boss'. Women need to reclaim the word b***h and make it theirs."