Charli XCX says that the arts are her ‘religion’
By Georgia Bates, Press Association
Brat singer Charli XCX has said that fashion, film, music and art are her “religion”.
The pop star said this keeps her “alive” but added that creating things and being an artist can also be “torturous”.
The musician shared a video to her Instagram account b.sides on Thursday in which she detailed her feelings towards being an artist.
In the clip she said: “Fashion and film and music and art, like those are the things that in a way – I know this sounds a little bit cheesy – but it’s like…I’m not really a religious person, so in ways like those things are kind of my religion, I guess.”
She added: “Like some people depend on something like religion, like I depend on these things, they are the things that inherently like keep me alive.
“But at the same time, sometimes engaging with them, engaging with making things, and creating things, and being an artist, and making art is like torturous.”
The singer described herself as being “contradictory”, adding: “I can be unbelievably happy and confident, but I can also be really, really depressed and sad.”
Charli added: “I love making things, I love creating things, but sometimes that can be really painful to do that, it can be painful to make things.
“Especially, I find, more so in this day and age, I’m finding that more and more.
“And that’s really confusing, because I’ve put my sort of entire identity into the things that I make, so yeah, that can be sort of very strange, because I’ve invested so much of myself into the things that I make emotionally.”
The pop star is best known for her Brat album, which sparked a cultural phenomenon and a frenzy on social media, as well as the “Brat summer” trend.
Charli released her Wuthering Heights companion album to Emerald Fennell’s film of the same name earlier this year, which was heavily praised by critics and earned the singer her third UK number one album.
The singer also starred in The Moment, a semi-fictional film looking at the release of Brat and the world tour that followed, earlier this year and has appeared in other film projects, including Pete Ohs’ Erupcja and Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights Of Hero.
Charli has also had two UK number one singles and is best known for tracks such as Boom Clap, Guess and I Love It with Swedish duo Icona Pop.
