Not content with having Martin Scorsese—and, in addition, John Cale and Marc Jacobs—on the cover of ‘Music, Fashion, Film,’ Charli XCX now directs Vincent Cassel in the video for ‘Camera,’ the fourth preview from the album due to drop this Friday.
‘Camera’ is another rock-tinged micro-single from this album that won’t be rock in the traditional sense. A glitchy guitar sample, a rock-driven beat, and a deliberately repetitive chorus sustain two and a half minutes of music that doesn’t feel short and manages to hook you. It isn’t better than ‘Wink Wink’ or ‘SS26’ nor as provocative as ‘Rock Music,’ but it serves well as the fourth single, faithful to the vintage rock ethos of this era.
Charli’s recent forays into cinema inspire a song in which she fantasizes about stepping away from the studio to shoot films ‘at thirty-four.’ ‘Camera’ is another one of those songs where the Brit converts her own frayed nerves into pop material: here she even contemplates ‘throwing her life overboard’ to pursue new and dangerous experiences as offered by the cinema camera.
The underlying message is that music has become a kind of prison for Charli, especially on an emotional and psychological level. Perhaps the line that best sums up the theme is ‘I don’t feel embarrassed even if I suck.’ In other passages, Charli suggests that cinema allows her to approach her true self, precisely because it gives her the chance to fail without fear (‘Daring to fail and being ugly’). Ironically, brutal honesty remains her hallmark.
In the past year, Charli has shot her own film, ‘The Moment,’ and has become a regular presence in Hollywood thanks to roles in ‘Erupcja,’ ‘The Gallerist,’ ‘I Want Your Sex,’ ‘Sacrifice,’ ‘Faces of Death’ and ‘100 Nights of Hero.’ Given the pace at which she is stacking projects, it’s not surprising that she ended up writing this song.
