Rihanna And Gwen Stefani Tap Charli XCX To Write New Songs

Charli XCX plans to write new music for Rihanna and Gwen Stefani as she preps the release of her own sophomore album, Sucker.

Such collaborations, particularly the latter, are rather fitting for the budding pop songwriter behind Icona Pop‘s “I Love It,” Iggy Azalea‘s “Fancy” and her own summer hit “Boom Clap,” off the Fault of Our Stars soundtrack.  Eve‘s 2001 smash “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” featuring the No Doubt frontwoman and Voice coach, has served as a major inspiration to Charli XCX’s work so far. “[It’s] my favorite female collaboration that has been released over the past 20 years,” she says to Billboard.

This news arrived as Azalea teased “Beg for It,” which also feature the True Romance star and will appear in a re-release of her debut album The New Classic, titled Reclassified. That, in addition to Charli XCX’s newfound success, suggests that despite her initial doubts, she has figured out how to navigate the pop industrial complex.

“We’d get an email that says, ‘So-and-so’s into writing with you,'” Charli told Billboard. “And then they’d go, ‘Yeah, they want you to write “I Love It” meets [Azealia Banks‘] “212.”‘ But [songwriters] don’t just churn it out – we’re not machines. That song opened the doors to a side of the music industry that I’d never had access to before. You just see how the machine works.”

[via Billboard]

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.