Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 01/11/2012 at 5:22 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: charli xcx, concerts, stay away

Have you heard “Stay Away” (our #46 single of last year) yet? If not, this is as good a time as any. The still Wiki entry-less Charli XCX (get on that already, The Internet!) recently performed her signature electro-pop ballad with sparse accompaniment (just an unassuming gentleman with a drum machine and a dorky haircut in the background) at the Blind Club at Dalston Heights in London. The stripped-down arrangement really suits the song well, as the power of Charli’s emotive-but-not-undignified vocals and heart-rending lyrics is strong enough to stand so unadorned, and the whole thing just feels more intimate and raw. (Also, the loose spools of cassette tape littered throughout the club floor make for an oddly compelling visual accompaniment.)

“Now it’s 2012, potentially the end of the world, so I can’t wait to bring you something even bigger and better,” Charli wrote in the video’s YouTube description. “And I can’t wait to hear what you guys think of all the new stuff to come.” Nor we—as our old friend Maura Johnston wrote, “if she’s this good at 19, Charli XCX could very well be a total fucking game-changer in even five years time.” We hope and expect as much.

[Stereogum]