10 Things Charli XCX Can’t Live Without

It is in fact true that I did want to work

for GQ when I was younger.

It was a tossup between GQ or Ikea.

If you're hiring, I'm available, kind of.

[upbeat music]

Hey GQ, I'm Charlie XCX and these are my 10 essentials.

Diptyque candles.

And they are actually both fig centered.

I love these candles

because they just make a room smell really good,

which is cool, especially when you're on tour,

like sometimes like dressing rooms

aren't like super glamorous,

like people maybe would think that they are,

but they're actually like often kind of smelly and gross.

So these really fix that problem.

When I am recording in the studio,

I do like a kind of candle setting.

Generally if I'm in the studio I'll do like a candelabra,

kind of dripping candles.

It makes it feel like a little bit gothic.

[blowing sound]

[upbeat music]

Prada boots.

I got these from The RealReal.

So we're recycling, which is good.

These boots are rave ready.

Yes, you can also hide things in them, which is really fun.

You can stomp around, you can cause a scene.

I just really like these.

Like I've never really been one for like a flat

like low heel boot until I got these boots

and now I'm converted.

I just think they're like a real nice staple

that I will keep forever.

Got them re-heeled.

Shout out to the cobbler.

Ideal for any occasion, really,

whether you're raving or going for a walk

in the English countryside, which I never do.

[upbeat music]

Cartier lighter.

This is an item that is very dear to me.

I travel with it all the time,

that my two best friends actually got me

for my 25th birthday present.

It's a really nice token of love.

I think it's very chic and sleek and stylish.

Currently it's out of gas because of a lot of use.

I'm gonna refill it right after this.

[upbeat music]

This is my current favorite scent

that I always travel with wherever I go.

I actually like a lot of different BYREDO's scents,

but right now we're rocking with Bibliotheque.

Library in French, I think.

Yeah.

Oh, smells great.

People have said I tend to over spray, over scent.

That's their problem, not mine

because I think it smells great.

The first scent I wore as a teen,

Glow by J-Lo was like a big scent when I was younger.

And then there was also that Lacoste scent

that had the really iconic advert

of the kind of like Brigitte Bardot looking blonde girl,

like running after a balloon and like a pink dress.

I just remember the song was like,

let me show you the way, there's a place we can play,

or something like that.

Oh my God, what am I doing?

Okay.

And I like hated her

because I just thought she was like so beautiful.

I was like, come on, be her, I hate her,

but I bought the perfume.

Yeah, so those.

[upbeat music]

Ah, my trusty Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro.

I did a really quite lengthy brand partnership with Samsung

and it sort of became this kind of like

funny joke within my fan base

where they really highly doubted

that I ever actually used any Samsung products.

I had a phone, I had the Buds2 Pro in both lilac and black.

A multitude of other Samsung gadgets,

but I'm here to say that I do use these.

And also I'm not working with them anymore,

so this is not a plug.

I do use these Buds2 Pro.

I don't even know if I'm saying the names right.

Like I'm so like...

Whatever.

I use these all the time.

I've never had AirPods.

They don't fit in my ears like these do.

So like snug, perfect fit.

So yeah, to all those who doubted me,

I really do stand by these.

One thing they used to really like me to do

when I was working with them is they would ask me

to create content where I would show

how I matched the buds to my outfit.

So I would always just be either wearing like lilac or black

and I'd be like, ooh, today it's a lilac day

and then I'd put them in

and I'd show my outfit which would be purple

and it would match these and they loved it and I love them.

And now I'm never gonna work with them again,

or maybe they're gonna extend that contract.

I'm here for you guys.

This is my engagement ring box

and I carry it with me everywhere

because I'm yet to get my engagement ring resized.

I take the box with me just in case

I feel like it's gonna fall off.

I put it in the box and often

when I like travel to a new city,

I'm like, this is the city

I'm gonna get the ring resized in,

but then I leave the city so it never really happens.

Currently this is just coming with me everywhere,

but one day I will get it resized

and I can just get rid of that.

[upbeat music]

This is my diary.

My biggest fear ever is leaving this on a plane.

Oh my God, it sends shivers down spine.

I have about five pages left

and last time I wrote was March Fourth.

See, that's not good.

Got to keep it up.

I think this is really useful just to kind of

air out the thoughts that sometimes ruminate in my brain.

I went through a phase where I would highlight bits

that were really important to me

that only lasted for four pages,

but it was good, you could really like find

the crucial point that you were kind of getting to.

I used to keep diaries a lot when I was younger,

like stacks and stacks of them

and they were always sort of about like,

oh, like I kissed Chris McCray

at the school disco or whatever.

Shout out, Chris, love you.

Now it's a lot more, it's like pretty dark now,

like deep, dark, sad, occasional like light moment.

There is a separate book for song lyrics.

Now that I've finished the record,

I haven't really like taken that out for a while.

I did like three kind of song lyric books for this record

and that was actually a new thing for me

because generally I was a kind of notes app girl,

and then just sort of like holding up my phone

whilst I was recording

and then I went analog for this record which is ironic

because it's not an analog record at all.

The new record brat is a club record.

I would say the album is quite abrasive,

very kind of in your face, very direct,

both sonically and lyrically.

I'm really kind of just like getting to the point.

Some people might call it aggressive,

I would call it honest.

I think it's my best, but I know everyone says that

about their records they're about to put out.

It would be kind of bad

if they're like this one, it's my worst.

Don't bother, but do bother, this one's really good.

[upbeat music]

This is my Laneige lip mask.

Every single content piece I've ever done

where they're like, what's in your bag,

what's an essential item,

what would you grab when you're running out of the house?

It's this.

They are yet to send me any free product,

but I'm still trucking away,

but it's not even about

the free product at this point, Laneige,

I just really like use this every day

to the point where like if I was going out

and I didn't have a pot of this,

I would go home and get it and then go back out again.

It's actually a sleeping mask,

but I use it more just like a lip balm.

When I was like 25, 26,

I developed like insane, like sudden like adult acne

and I had to go on Accutane, I think,

and that just like really dries out your skin a lot.

It was then that I kind of became very dependent on lip balm

and I tried lots of different ones and this was my favorite.

[indistinct], if you're watching, I could be your girl.

They're never gonna book me.

[record scratching sound]

They're never gonna book me.

They booked Sydney Sweeney and that's it.

It's fine, I'm not salty about it.

[upbeat music]

These are my seeing glasses.

I need them for driving and watching like TV

or going to the movies and they're an essential item for me

because whenever I travel,

I really like to go to the cinema.

No offense to retro super feature, who I love.

This is more like a functional thing

than like a style thing, but we love them, super stylish.

I don't look that good in glasses, to be honest.

I've really tried to do like the skinny frames.

I went through the phase where I got like

big like Gucci frames.

Like nothing works for me with glasses,

but they do allow me to see, which is the point.

[upbeat music]

This is truly my like top, top tip, top essential item.

Terry.

Hey, Terry.

So Terry is my photographer and friend

and also I would say like creative counterpart.

[indistinct]. [laughing]

We're like back and forth and in the weeds

on like everything to do with my new album, Brats.

I mean literally, we talk about this record

every second of every single day.

We live and breathe it.

It's kind of like we have no life

outside of it at points, which is great.

We love. We love.

We love.

So I really just kind of couldn't do it without him.

Yeah, it's true.

It's true.

Terry shot the cover of Crash,

actually just down the road from my house

on a really enthusiastic gentleman's car, who...

Wasn't he so [indistinct]. Yeah.

He didn't mind that I was kind of like in my...

Well, yeah, yeah, I guess.

[indistinct] Maybe, you know? .

I think he came with his wife, which is cool.

[upbeat music]

Thank you guys so much for checking out my essentials.

I'm Charlie XCX.

Have a lovely day.