By Andre Paras
Managing Editor
2026 has been another monumental year for British singer, songwriter and actress Charli XCX. It began with the pop star acting in her own mockumentary feature film as herself in “The Moment,” released on Jan. 30. Two weeks later, the release of Emerald Fennell’s film adaptation of the classic “Wuthering Heights” was released on Feb. 13, featuring a No. 1 charting soundtrack by Charli.
Later in the summer, Charli released her eighth studio LP, “Music, Fashion, Film,” her second No. 1 album of the year. This makes her the first British female artist to ever accomplish this feat, according to Official Charts.
A week later, another acting role for Charli hit the big screen in Gregg Araki’s new erotic comedy, “I Want Your Sex.”
After headlining major music festivals playing a majority of these new songs for the first time, this September brings the dawn of the “Music, Fashion, Film” tour, with two short tour legs in North America, as well as Europe and the U.K in 2027.
Filipina-American hyperpop singer-songwriter and producer, underscores, opened the show at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sept. 11, and this specific set felt like watching the breakout of a future star, live in the flesh. Notably, this was her first ever arena show.
However, with the way she commanded the crowd as an opener, you could be convinced that she was the headliner seeing how excited the arena got at times.
Opener underscores performs to an audience full of flashlights. (Photo by Andre Paras)
It helps that some songs like “The Peace,” “Do It” and “Music” are all trending online following the release of “U,” the fourth studio release for underscores.
Still, underscores had a dedicated fan base that night, with lots of fans wearing merch of the artist, and even swinging around “U-LIGHT” merch, a distinct light stick as part of underscores’ merch and overall live show aesthetic throughout the audience.
Charli XCX brings out underscores again later in the night to perform “Do It” together. (Photo by Andre Paras)
It was the perfect hyperpop sound to set the tone and get the energy right for Charli, and on this she capitalized.
Charli opened the night on the middle level of a multi-layered stage, alongside a full size standard rock band, fittingly for the electronic-rock hybrid track “Rock Music.”
The energy was instantly infectious, with the pop star headbanging in a red dress and moving the mic stand like a true rock star. Just goes to show her versatility in sound and the type of performance she can offer as a performer.
The 29-song setlist was certainly heavily focused on recent releases, coming off the success of two No. 1 records, as well as “brat” from 2024, forever ingrained as a cultural touchstone with the “brat summer” trend.
For “Music, Fashion, Film,” she played all 11 released songs, performing “Persona” for the first time live, as well as playing two un-released b-sides “If You Take Away the Music, Then What Has She Got?” and “Playboy Bunny,” as well as eight off “brat.”
Exclusively for Philadelphia, Charli played her first ever released song “Stay Away,” and it seems like Charli will play a surprise older song each night of the tour.
Charli XCX sings the viral song “party 4 u” atop a multi-level stage. (Photo by Andre Paras)
What’s also worth noting is that every song felt like its own production. A lot of that aided by the live steadicam operator camera crew walking around stage tracking Charli, her huge backup dance team and live rock band when they were up there.
On the big projectors, the “Music, Fashion, Film” songs all followed a gritty black and white aesthetic, and any song from other areas were all vibrant in color. The camera operators weren’t simply just observing, but in sync with the choreography and blocking of each performance.
For the song “House featuring John Cale,” Charli’s seen crawling around stage singing along to the eerie, almost horrifying song passionately, with firework sparks and pyrotechnics going off behind her.
Amidst the chaos of the “brat” era part of the set, “Guess featuring billie eilish” ended with an explosion of women’s underwear on the stage and into the crowd for those nearby.
It all goes to show how crazy yet calculated and effective all the production work was to help elevate this into a stadium-ready show.
What was a truly victorious, reflective and even nostalgic night for the star ends with a sobering, introspective outcome.
Charli closed the night with two very important and timely songs, even if they didn’t match the rest of the tone of the night.
“SS26,” an alternative-rock ballad on the doom of modern politics and critiques against commercialization of art was second to last.
The grand finale was “No One Lasts Forever featuring David Cronenberg,” a renowned film director who gives a morbid voiceover on life, death and art to end off both the album, but also seemingly every night of the “Music, Fashion, Film” tour.
This is also where the tour mantra, repeated on tour merch and in big font across the screens during the show, “Oblivion is Freedom,” comes from.
Charli XCX and her backup performers pose for the finale of the “Music, Fashion, Film” tour “No One Lasts Forever featuring David Cronenberg.” (Photo by Andre Paras)
In these songs, Charli does some of the most self-reflection she’s ever done in her musical career, but also expresses the album’s namesake looking at art, at “Music, Fashion, Film” in the world right now and where she wants to go next with these things.
Along with some amazingly fun, danceable and hype music, it’s incredible to see a pop star like Charli take this journey in her career as an artist live and in the flesh, and how she’s putting these introspective ideas on such a big stage.
The “Music, Fashion, Film” tour continued next in Brooklyn Sept. 14 and 15, with nine dates left in North America and six in Europe and the U.K. with Audrey Hobert next year.
