Just in time to mark the beginning of the Sweat Tour, which kicks off on September 14th in Detroit, Charli XCX has released yet another remix of one of her songs from Brat: “Talk Talk.” A song that will also be featured on her forthcoming remix edition of Brat called Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. And the remix of “Talk Talk” now features, of course, Troye Sivan—her co-headliner on the abovementioned tour, which is designed to look and feel like a rave (a vibe that perfectly suits each musician’s respective fanbases).
Although (to those who aren’t kidding themselves) it comes across as one of the most generic/throwaway tracks on the record, the song’s current makeover allows “Talk Talk” a greater aura of sexiness as opposed to “earnestness.” And that sexiness is probably mostly thanks to Dua Lipa’s contributions, minimal though they may be.
After all, it’s Lipa who kicks off the house-ified track with the Spanish declaration and entreaty, “Hay una fiesta en mi casa, vengan/Será muy divertido” (“There’s a party at my house, come. It will be a lot of fun”). Perhaps XCX herself fed Lipa these lines, considering how well-known she is (or was) for throwing the best parties—particularly at her illustrious Beachwood Canyon mansion in Hollywood (which she’s moved out of now that she’s more “adult”). A place she quickly made infamous for being a party spot, telling Seth Meyers in an interview from earlier this year that she would often find herself being asked by party guests if they knew who the host was…having no idea that it was the very person they were asking.
In 2019, she also told Architectural Digest of her Beachwood Canyon abode, “We throw a lot of parties here… I just like the house to feel busy; I like that this house has just seen a lot of stories and fun things happen.” Of course, this was pre-George Daniel. Pre-being practically wifed up. And pre-spending her quarantine time there with Huck Kwong, her long-time (even if on-again, off-again) boyfriend before XCX fell for The 1975’s drummer. Who is also fast becoming known as one of her go-to producers apart from A. G. Cook (with the two first collaborating together on the Crash album for the title track).
Before meeting in even a professional capacity, however, the two were only talking via text (or “online,” if you will), with XCX first encountering him in the flesh at the 2020 NME Awards (which still went on because the world hadn’t yet gone into lockdown mode as it was only early February of that pandemic year). At said event, while XCX was nominated for Best British Solo Act, Best Solo Act in the World and Best Collaboration, The 1975 was nominated for Best British Song, Best Song in the World, Best Festival Headliner, Best Band in the World and Best British Band (which they won), in addition to also receiving the special honors of the Innovation Award and Band of the Decade (all of which seems far too excessive, especially considering the band’s current post-Taylor Swift-dating-Matty-Healy standing).
In effect, all that The 1975 “prowess” made it even more difficult for XCX to feel comfortable approaching her crush. And yes, she also admitted their “talking” via text was decidedly flirtatious despite still being attached to Kwong (with whom she would subsequently spend the lockdown year with while recording How I’m Feeling Now). Of being at the NME Awardswith Daniel in her midst, Charli recalled, “…we were both sat on different tables, and we were like texting each other, but we weren’t hanging out. But we were both looking over at each other—it was very like, one of us would look, and the other one would look away, and then just vice versa. You know, when you just feel like someone is watching you, you can feel a hole burning in the back of your head or something like that. It was very much that moment.”
Which is exactly why the original version of the song paints that exact portrait with the opening verse, “I’ve been lookin’ at you/Puttin’ holes in your head/We’ve been talking for months/But never in the same room/And now I wanna approach ya/But we’ve been keeping this a secret/When you’re surrounded by friends/And I’m just wondering what they know.” To accommodate Sivan’s presence on the remix, however, XCX dispenses with that image in favor of giving him the time to provide a less “desperate,” “needy” vibe with the new chorus, “‘Kay, here’s the plan/I wanna fly you out to Amsterdam/I got a good hotel to fuck you in, I wanna/Boy, come see me.” Okay, maybe it still sounds desperate and needy, but somehow, his delivery (paired with the “Daddy” move of getting a “good hotel”) makes it come across as far more “endlessly cool” than XCX’s shameless admission, “I think you’re getting closer/‘Cause I’ve been getting nervous/I wish you’d talk, talk/Wish you’d talk, talk/Wish you’d talk, talk/Wish you’d just talk to me/Talk to me, talk to me/Are you thinking ’bout me?/I’m kind of thinking you are/I followed you to the bathroom/But then I felt crazy.” That last part, too, was based on XCX’s real-life experience at the NME Awards.
But with Sivan at her side to lighten the “stalker-y mood” of the scenario, and Dua Lipa to deliver her occasional foreign language interjections (concluding with, “J’ai perdu mon téléphone mais tu sais quoi? Ça valait la peine parce que c’était une soirée de fou” a.k.a. “I lost my phone but you know what? It was worth it because it was a crazy night”), the tone of “Talk Talk” becomes more filled with levity on the lyrical front. What’s more, the music itself also has a more innovative sound. In truth, with additional production credits by Styalz Fuego, NOVODOR and Zhone (who build on what A. G. Cook and Hudson Mohawke did on the original), the beat transcends into something far more unique (and house music-oriented) than what’s provided on the OG “Talk Talk.”
Thus, when Charli and Sivan seductively (and, at the same time, jubilantly) sing the refrain, “Shall we go back to my—/Talk to me in French, French, French, French/Talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk to me in Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish,” listeners who don’t even speak those languages might just be inclined to miraculously oblige. Even though that doesn’t mean this collaboration in any way surpasses what the two accomplished together on “1999” (but it definitely does when pitted against “2099”).
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