Charli XCX’s “Sucker”: Date, Cover and Track List Change; “London Queen” Premieres

By / / Albums / Leave a comment

Charli-XCX-Sucker-2014-1200x1200-FinalCharli XCX has had a crazy 2014 thus far. Her collaboration with Iggy Azalea (“Fancy”) became the first massive breakout track for a new artist in the United States in 2014 (only two more have followed; “Rude” and “All About That Bass”) and “Boom Clap” became one of the best selling tracks from a soundtrack in recent memory, reaching #1  on US Radio at the tail end of Summer.

Her 2nd major label studio release (and 3rd overall album), Sucker, was announced shortly there after.

With “Boom Clap” still holding strong on the United States Billboard Hot 100 (and still scaling the CDS Music Chart Hot 50), Charli XCX is currently in great shape. So great that the artist decided to push the album’s release back by 8 weeks (October 14th to December 16th). Was it her idea? Probably not. Was it a smart idea? Probably. In a series of tweets she ‘explained’ the reason for the delay :

While she was correct to pin the delay on the massive success of “Boom Clap”, she overly simplified the issue…significantly. Because “Boom Clap” became a massive success, her label probably figured that “Break The Rules” (the album’s next single) would breakout on pop formats as well. The strategic placement of the album in the middle of December will help for three key reasons:

1. If “Break the Rules” becomes a success in the United States within the next 8 weeks, the album would already have two smash singles under its belt before release. Two massive hits from an album is clearly more appealing than one. If everything rolls out like expected, first week sales for the album are bound to be higher. As the track is  already roaring up United States radio, this approach looks to work.

2. No other albums have been scheduled for a December 16th release. Maybe other artists will stray away from launching an album on the same day as one of the most popular new artists. Additionally, a release close to the Christmas season is bound to help strengthen sales over the first several weeks of availability.

3. Simply put: nominations season. As most of you know, the Grammy eligibility period starts on October 1st and ends on September 30th of the next year (similar award shows have similarly scheduled cycles). Despite this, albums that are released in October of any given year tend to be passed over and forgotten. Maybe she’s trying to snag some nominations by moving out of October? This is just a theory but it seems somewhat likely.

Although she is going full steam ahead with the promotion for “Break The Rules”, Charli XCX surprised fans today with the special release of a brand new song called “London Queen”. Described by most as a new wave song and inspired by the Ramones, the new track has already generated buzz all across the internet. Unfortunately, it fails to come anywhere near the amazing sounds we’ve heard from the artist throughout this album cycle; it comes off as a cheap Avril Lavigne rip with generic lyrics.

“London Queen” will be released onto iTunes later tonight (October 6th) and will be part of the instant grant program on iTunes. If you pre-order Sucker now through December 15th, you’ll instantly get all granted tracks. Listen to the track below.

In addition to the recently switched album cover (which used to only focus on  the lollipop with the word “Sucker” on it), the album’s official track listing has been slightly altered as well:

1. “Sucker”
2. “Break The Rules”
3. “London Queen”
4. “Breaking Up”
5. “Gold Coins”
6. “Boom Clap”
7. “Doing It”
8. “Body of My Own”
9. “Famous”
10. “Hanging Around”
11. “Die Tonight”
12. “Caught In the Middle”
13. “Need Your Love”

Four tracks that were initially intended to be used for the album (“OK”, “Money”, “Seronja” and the initial lead single “SuperLove”) were scrapped and/or shelved. They could be part of the United Kingdom version, however this is unlikely.

“SuperLove” was revealed to be off the album during an interview on September 2nd, while the others were dropped sometime within the past two weeks. “Serjona” was intended to be a promotional countdown single but was likely replaced in favor of “London Queen”.

The album’s 3rd official single (if you don’t count “SuperLove”) was rumored to be “Breaking Up” because the track’s official music video was already filmed and edited earlier this year. However, as we likely won’t see another official single until December or January, this is highly likely to change.

Leave a comment