''Charm'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Clairo Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. She began posting music on the internet at age 13. Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for ...

, released on July 12, 2024. The follow-up to her second album, '' Sling'' (2021), it is her first self-released studio album after her previous two albums were released by Fader and

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

respectively. Clairo produced the album alongside Leon Michels, with musical contributions from Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss,

Marco Benevento Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977) is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock music, rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and rec ...

, and Dave Guy, among others. To promote it, she released the singles "Sexy to Someone", "Nomad", "Juna" and "Terrapin" —the latter two being promotional—, played two residencies at the

Fonda Theatre The Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box Theatre, Guild Theatre, Fox Theatre, and Pix Theatre) is a concert venue located on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, Spanish Colonial Rev ...

and the Webster Hall, and embarked in the Charm Tour. ''Charm'' received critical acclaim, with music critics praising its production, songwriting and Clairo's musical expansion. Commercially, it debuted at number 8 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her first top 10 album. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album, marking Clairo's first Grammy nomination.

Background

Clairo released '' Sling'', her second album, on July 16, 2021. It was received positively by music critics, and appeared on numerous "best albums of 2021" lists. Critics praised it for Clairo's artistic progression and thematic songwriting that ponders future motherhood, domesticity, and the responsibility of becoming a caregiver. In 2022, to support the record, Clairo embarked on the Sling tour. During the tour, she suffered from sinus infections and an ear injury, before finishing it on October 4, 2022. In 2023, aside from collaborating with artists like Phoenix and Beabadoobee, Clairo released two charity singles on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

, "For Now" with all proceeds directed to

Everytown for Gun Safety Everytown for Gun Safety is an American non-profit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was formed in 2013 due to a merger between ''Mayors Against Illegal Guns'' and ''Moms Demand Action for Gun Sens ...

and For The Gworls, and "Lavender" to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. A live EP, ''Live at Electric Lady'', was released on May 12, 2023. In January 2024, Clairo started teasing a new album with a post on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, captioning it "maybe this year". In March, she shared an Instagram post captioned with emojis depicting the number three, a check mark, and a purple heart. The post was interpreted by music publication ''The Forty-Five'' to mean that her third studio album was complete. On May 7, she revealed a release date of May 23 for her new music via

Instagram Stories Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. On May 23, Clairo announced that the album, titled ''Charm'' and produced by Leon Michels, was scheduled for release on July 12, while releasing its lead single, "Sexy to Someone". A press release accompanying the announcement of ''Charm'' described the album as "a collection of warm, '70s-inspired grooves that move lithely between

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...

and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

Recording

''Charm'' was recorded at Allaire Studios in upstate New York near Woodstock and at Diamond Mine Recording in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. Cottrill previously worked with producer Jack Antonoff on ''Sling'' at Allaire Studios. On ''Charm'', production is instead undertaken by Leon Michels who had previously produced for jazz and soul artists such as

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Liam Bailey. The album was recorded live on analog tape.

Release and promotion

The first single from ''Charm'' to be released was "Sexy to Someone" on May 23, 2024. ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'' described the track as "flirty" while ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' said it was "a summer stunner with cozy production and whimsical instrumentation". "Nomad", the record's second single, was released on June 28, 2024. On May 29, Clairo announced two residencies for September in support of the album. The Los Angeles residency took place at the

, while the New York residency took place at the Webster Hall. On July 17, to promote the album, Clairo performed "Juna", the seventh track of the album, live at ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''. On the same day, she also announced the dates for her upcoming North American tour that was held from September to November 2024. The tour is supported by singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou as the opening act. On August 4, the music video for "Juna" was released. It marked Clairo's first music video in six years and is wrestling-themed. On December 3, Clairo shared the music video for "Sexy to Someone". A third music video debuted on February 6, 2025 for "Terrapin", directed by Ayo Edebiri and featuring

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

as "Clairo".

Critical reception

''Charm'' received critical acclaim upon release. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 82. ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' writer Nick Seip described the record's production and instrumentation as "its secret weapon", and favorably compared the voice of Cotrill on the track "Terrapin" to her "early history of singing over lo-fi beats". Marissa Lorusso, for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', also noted the album's resemblance to her earlier work, while sentencing that it doesn't have the "dramatic shift" in the manner of the singer's sophomore record, '' Sling'', nor "'' Immunity'''s kinship with bedroom pop", yet a "successful but polite soft-rock outing." ''

The Daily Tar Heel ''The Daily Tar Heel'' (''DTH'') is the independent student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded on February 23, 1893, and became a daily newspaper in 1929. The paper places a focus on university news and ...

s Alexis Clifton highlighted ''Charm'''s "whispery jazz, soft rock elements, groovy orchestral motifs and undeniable warmth", and stated that it is essentially a "falling in love" album which "lies in between" of the themes of its predecessors: ''Immunity'''s youth and ''Sling'''s "multifacetedness of growing old". On a more mixed-to-negative review, Paulo Rogasa, writing for '' Consequence'', felt that, although the record does show Cotrill's music maturity, specifically on its "musical arrangements", her "pillow-soft" vocals strip some of its songs "of their emotional exterior", exemplifying it with "Sexy to Someone", a track that, he said, is "devoid of desire" in its delivery.

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

Claire Cottrill Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. She began posting music on the internet at age 13. Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for ...

– lead vocals (all tracks),

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

(track 1), piano (2, 8, 10),

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(4), percussion (5), guitar (9–11) * Leon Michels – percussion (tracks 1–4, 8–10), flute (1, 2, 4, 5, 8–11), synthesizer (1, 2, 5–10), guitar (1, 6, 8–10), organ (2–5, 9–11), piano (2–5, 11),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

(2, 5),

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

(3, 4, 11), vocals (3, 9, 11);

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

, Wurlitzer (4); saxophone (7, 8), bass (7, 10, 11), drums (9, 10),

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

(11) * Nick Movshon – bass (tracks 1–6, 8, 9),

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

(1), percussion (3, 5), guitar (5), mo tuck (1–3, 8) * Homer Steinweiss – drums (tracks 1–6, 8), percussion (2, 5) * Paul Castelluzzo –

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

(track 2) * Dylan Nowik – slide guitar (1), electric guitar (tracks 1, 3), fuzz bass (3), acoustic guitar (1, 4, 9) *

– piano (tracks 6, 7) * Dave Guy – trumpet (tracks 7, 8) * Lee Falco – drums, percussion, saxophone (track 7) Technical * Claire Cottrill – production * Leon Michels – production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Alex Deturk – mastering * Jens Jungkurth – mixing, engineering * John Rooney – engineering

Charts

References

External links

Entry on Album of the Year
{{Authority control 2024 albums Clairo albums Quiet storm albums Self-released albums Soul albums by American artists