"Click" is a song by English singer
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery b ...
featuring German singer
Kim Petras
Kim Petras (born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republ ...
and
Estonian rave rapper
Tommy Cash from Charli XCX's third studio album ''
Charli'' (2019).
Composition
A
rap paean
A paean () is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice (monody). It comes from the Greek παιάν (also πα� ...
, it features heavy use of
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances.
Auto-T ...
, creating a sound that ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North a ...
'' described as a "mindfuck". Petras' verse was described by ''
Paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre e ...
'' as "possibly the most bombastic 60 seconds in her discography to date." Her verse builds up to "one of the most exciting climaxes of the entire record, cushioned by a question of silence and torn to shreds by a mind-bending drum sample."
The final 30 seconds of the song contains "
distorted blaring noise taking listeners by surprise" and earned commentary from multiple critics.
Reception
''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awa ...
'' called the song "the sort of track that only Charli could pull off, silly and serious at the same time, making the 30 seconds before you pull up to a party sound like the end of the world." ''Paper'' called the final 30 seconds of the track "uncomfortable and restricting on top of being nearly painful if your volume's turned up loud enough."
Speaking of the same sequence, ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' called it a "montage of jagged and distorted
Sophie
Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise".
People with the name Born in the Middle Ages
* Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson
* Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...
-like sounds not dissimilar to farts". According to ''The Ticker'', "This abrasive sound on 'Click' isn't rare for Charli XCX or
PC Music
PC Music is a record label and art collective based in London and run by producer A. G. Cook. It was founded in 2013, making its music available on SoundCloud that year. Artists on its roster have included Hannah Diamond, GFOTY, Danny L Ha ...
, but the bratty verses from Kim Petras and the English singer drive the piercing production with an equal amount of punch that makes it stick out, even on such a sonically focused record like ''Charli''."
No Boys Remix
On 11 October 2019, an official remix entitled "Click (No Boys Remix)" was released. The remix keeps Petras' verse from the original, but replaces Tommy Cash with American singer
Slayyyter.
Background and composition
The idea of a remix was proposed to Charli by a fan in a
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
Q&A in September 2019. She quote-retweeted it with , to which Slayyyter replied "OMG DOWN."
Charli started teasing the remix on her Twitter account on 11 October 2019. It was released the same day, but due to technical issues it wasn't available anywhere outside of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It got released worldwide on 14 October.
According to ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', "the remix maintains the same
glitching energy as the original album track, while also offering up a ripe opportunity for Slayyyter to deliver her own spin on the song's
rap verse."
Critical reception
''
Paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre e ...
''s Tiffany Leung said of Slayyyter's "cute" verse, "Her contribution enhances the track's powerful female presence, making it an official
girl-power
Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called ''Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power'' in 1 ...
anthem." She went on to call Charli, Petras and Slayyyter "your favorite internet-
savvy Gen Z
Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the Western demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting bir ...
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
girlies". Salvatore Maicki of ''
The Fader
''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes.
It is o ...
'' thought it was "fitting that
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , ...
would prevail with a new
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...
Charli XCX collaboration" since its release date marked
National Coming Out Day
National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ( the LGBT community, sometimes also called the queer community) in "coming out of the closet". Fi ...
.
Personnel
Credits taken from
Tidal.
*
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery b ...
— vocals, songwriting, executive producer
*
Kim Petras
Kim Petras (born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republ ...
— vocals
*
Slayyyter — vocals, songwriting
*Niko Battistini — assistant mixing
*
Dylan Brady — production, songwriting, drum programming, sound effects, synthesizer
*Joe Burgess — assistant mixing
*
Tommy Cash — engineering, vocal engineer
*
A. G. Cook — production, songwriting, programming, engineering, executive producer
*Stuart Hawkes — mastering
*Aaron Joseph — engineering
*ö — production, programming
*Geoff Swan — mixing
*
Theron Thomas — songwriting
*umru — production, songwriting, bass, drum programming, engineering, sequencer synthesizer, vibes
C2.0
On 15 May 2020, a new remix titled "C2.0" was released as part of her fourth studio album ''
How I'm Feeling Now
''How I'm Feeling Now'' (stylized in all caps on physical releases, in all lowercase on streaming services) is the fourth studio album by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX, released on 15 May 2020. Released eight months after her previous ...
''.
Background
In a track-by-track breakdown on
Apple Music
Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple ...
, Charli has said about the track:
A. G. sent me this beat at the end of last year called "Click 2.0"—which was an updated version of my song "Click" from the ''Charli'' album. He had put it together for a performance he was doing with Caroline Polachek
Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...
. I heard the performance online and loved it, and found myself listening to it on repeat while—and I’m sorry, I know this is so cheesy—driving around Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
watching all these colours and trees and rainbows go by. It just felt euphoric and beautiful. Towards the end of this recording process, I wanted to do a few more songs and A. G. reminded me of this track. The original "Click" features Tommy Cash and Kim Petras and is a very braggy song about our community of artists. It’s talking about how we’re the shit, basically. But through this, it’s been transformed into this celebratory song about friendship and missing the people that you hang out with the most and the world that existed before.
References
{{authority control
Charli XCX songs
Kim Petras songs
Tommy Cash songs
2019 songs
Songs written by Charli XCX
Songs written by Theron Thomas
Songs written by Dylan Brady
Songs written by A. G. Cook