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Charli xcx's shares her experiences as a mixed-race woman and musician shaped Brat
"I never felt accepted where I went," the singer said. "There was this weird, displaced feeling, where I couldn't quite fit into either place"
Charli's father, Jon, is Scottish and her mother, Shameera, is Indian
Charli xcx's mixed-race identity influenced the making of her record-breaking albumBrat.
In conversation with Swedish rapper Yung Lean forDazedmagazine's Winter 2025 Issue, Charli, 33, opens up about her struggles of being a mixed-race woman and musician. Having been raised in England by her Scottish father and Indian mother, Charli said she's no stranger to feeling like an outsider.
"I never felt accepted where I went, whether that was in school for being half-Indian and not blonde, or not fully relating to my Indian self because I was half-white," the singer shared. "There was this weird, displaced feeling, where I couldn't quite fit into either place."
"Then with music, being outside of the mainstream and wanting to be in that world, but also really wanting to reject it. It created this concoction that allowed me to [makeBrat]," she continued. "I feel like I used to be very afraid. Not since 2016, really, but prior to that I was very afraid."
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The '365' singer, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, was born toJon and Shameera Aitchison. Though her parents are her biggest supporters (they took her to perform at her first rave when she was a teenager!), Charli has often shared the challenges of growing up with parents of different races.
For herVogueSingapore 2024 cover story, the popstar said she "grew up in two half-lives."
"When I would go and visit my mum's family, I felt very Indian," she noted. "It was all the classic scenes of my nani and bappa cooking with Bollywood films playing in the background and everybody speaking in Gujarati."
"But then I'd go home to this other world, which was largely white. It was almost like I would experience the Indian part of my identity only on the weekends. I never quite felt like I fit into either world, which I think commonly happens with mixed-race kids."
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Speaking toGQin 2024, Charli said she "always felt like a loser" at school because she was mixed-race.
"I had friends, but my school was full of blonde white girls, and I was this half-Indian girl with frizzy hair and different interests," she continued. "That always made me feel a little bit rejected. I thought if I made music, people would think I was interesting ... Deep down, one of my biggest fears was being boring."
Charli's viralBrattrack "Apple"is about her relationship with her parents. The song quickly became the soundtrack of summer 2024 for its TikTok dance.
With the lyrics, "I guess the apple don't fall far from the tree / 'Cause I've been looking at you so long / Now I only see me / I wanna throw the apple into the sky / Feels like you never understand me / So I just wanna drive," the hit song chronicles her "sticky relationship" with her parents.
The British pop star confessed that after the release ofBratshe "felt really uninspired by music," and isn't "hungry to learn about new music." Charli revealed that the only artists she's tuning into are Yung Lean, Sophie, AG Cook, Bladee and her husband,The 1975drummerGeorge Daniel.
"[Music has] never inspired me, really," Charli noted. "I've always been more inspired by film. So I think at that point, when I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by music, I wanted to delve more into a different creative space."
The multi-hyphenate has worked on seven upcoming films:100 Nights of Hero(2025),Sacrifice(2025),Erupcja(2025),Faces of Death,I Want Your Sex,The GalleristandThe Moment(2026).
The Moment, a mockumentary-style film, follows the life of a global pop sensation on her first-ever headline tour. Charli plays a fictional version of herself, poking fun at herBratera.
The film will hit theaters on Jan. 30.
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