For a while there, Lana Del Rey was the undisputed Soundtrack Queen. Whether composing original songs or offering up cover versions, Del Rey’s voice has been present on an eclectic mix of films ranging from The Great Gatsby (with the original composition “Young and Beautiful”) to Big Eyes (with the original compositions “Big Eyes” and “I Can Fly”) to The King (with a previously unreleased track from her pre-fame days called “Elvis”) to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (with a cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch”), the list of Del Rey’s soundtrack contributions goes on and on. But lately, there’s been a fierce contender in the realm of soundtrack benefactions, and it’s none other than Charli XCX.
Although, in the past, XCX was more known for providing previously released songs for soundtracks (including “Boom Clap” for The Fault in Our Stars, “Break the Rules” for Hot Pursuit, “SuperLove” for How to Be Single, “Boys” for Promising Young Woman and “Good Ones” for I Want You Back), recently, she’s been inspired to create plenty of original content for some of the most exciting movies to come out in the last year. In 2022, her original composition for A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies yielded “Hot Girl (Bodies Bodies Bodies)”—the type of song that was made for soundtracking the likes of Regina George’s existence. Indeed, XCX’s overt aughts-inspired sensibilities (both sonically and aesthetically) have been a key force in making her stand apart for soundtrack fare. Especially for films with 00s cinematography palettes. This includes not only Promising Young Woman, but now, Barbie. The most blockbustery movie to date that XCX has been a part of.
Joined by other Barbiecore types like Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj/Ice Spice, Karol G and Pink Pantheress, Charli’s contribution in the form of “Speed Drive” stands apart not just for its sound and more sped-up tempo (after all, you can’t have a song featuring the word “speed” in it without it being fast, n’est-ce pas?), but also for actually painting the portrait of “Barbie life” in a way that none of the other songs released thus far do. Not even “Barbie World,” which is more of an extension of the Minaj and Ice Spice personas than Barbie’s. What’s more, it relies on the core “thesis” of Aqua’s 1997 hit, “Barbie Girl,” as Lene Nystrøm sings in the background, “I’m a Barbie girl in the Barbie world/Life in plastic, it’s fantastic/You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere/Imagination, life is your creation.”
XCX’s portrait of “Barbie World,” on the other hand, focuses not just on how “hot” Barbie is, but also on what a good and loyal friend she happens to be. Because, obviously, if you’re that fine, you have to be nice, too—that is, if you don’t want people to despise you. And Charli assures listeners that Barbie is just that (even if she herself was a self-admitted “Barbie decapitator” as a child) as she sings, “She’s my best friend in the whole world/On the mood board, she’s the inspo/And she’s dressed in really cute clothes/Kawaii like we’re in Tokyo/Devon Lee smile, teeth a white row/Got a classic, real deep, Van Gogh/She got loyalty, she says, ‘I love you, girl’/I love her more.” As for the name-checking of various unlikely luminaries of arts and letters (save for Devon Lee), XCX felt obliged to congratulate herself by noting, “Literally can’t believe I name checked Van Gogh, Voltaire, Devon Lee Carlson and Barbie all in one song. That’s genius [said in a Paris Hilton ‘That’s hot’ tone, one assumes]. AND I simultaneously sampled Robyn’s cover of Teddybears’ ‘Cobra Style’ and interpolated ‘Hey Micky’ [will try to ignore that it’s spelled ‘Mickey’]?! I’m a fucking mathematician.” Or at least a hit pop song formula mathematician. And by the way, “Hey Mickey” itself is also a “sample” (but more like all-out remake)…of Racey’s 1979 song, “Kitty.”
To be sure, XCX has been on her sampling tip more than ever with her Crash era (which is technically over now), particularly by way of wielding Robin S’ “Show Me Love” (before Beyoncé) on “Used to Know Me” and September’s “Cry For You” on “Beg For You.” So it is that with her vast knowledge of the pop/dance music lexicon, XCX serves up her own one-of-a-kind bop by interpolating all these elements from pop culture past as though grinding them in a blender and letting the result that comes out be “Speed Drive.”
As for those who might have picked up on Charli’s “fetish,” as it were, for cars (hear/see also: “I Love It,” “Vroom Vroom,” “Crash” and the entire concept behind the Crash album) continuing in this single, she was happy to tell Rolling Stone, “I’ve always really liked singing about cars. For me, there is this intrinsic link between driving and music and feeling like you’re a star when you’re in a car.” Maybe someone should tell Pearl (Mia Goth) that. With this said, Charli was very deliberate about her decision to write a song for the film’s chase scene (the one Charli posted of Barbie [Margot Robbie] running out of the Mattel building). Her love of all things “fast” and “flash” seemingly traces back to her first “live performance” at a talent show held on a cruise ship. The a capella song performed? “Barbie Girl,” naturally. Because yes, Charli is a millennial girl before a Barbie girl…much to Gen Z’s dismay.
In terms of the track’s tone, Charli wanted it to “feel quite bratty” and pertain to “being hot.” Which is pretty much the essence of all her songs, particularly the last one she custom-made for a film, “Hot Girl (Bodies Bodies Bodies).” Indeed, one might say that, like Olivia Rodrigo commenting on how “vampire” is a natural progression from her work on Sour, so, too, is “Speed Drive” a natural progression from “Hot Girl (Bodies Bodies Bodies)”—yet another Charli number made for a specific movie. Which, again, brings us back to how the British hitmaker is “coming for” Lana’s crown with regard to “soundtrack supremacy.”
Clocking in at just one minute and fifty-seven seconds, “Speed Drive” also more than meets the unspoken “TikTok requirements” for most songs of late, making it even more primed for “hit potential.” And so, even though XCX repeats the phrase “red lights” throughout the song, as well as for the outro, it’s apparent that there’s nothing but green ones for the places (and films) XCX will be welcomed into after further cementing herself as the ultimate Pop Star (/Soundtrack) Barbie.
