Yesterday Charli XCX stopped by Borderline Music, an indie record store in Chicago, and gave a short in-store performance. In addition to performing songs off of her album True Romance, released on April 15, Charli gave a tribute to the one and only Backstreet Boys, and ended her visit with a cover of "I Want It That Way." Charli gives the song all of the soul and passionate pleading the boys did, but with her own moody, synth supported Charli style.
A cover of such a well known song could have gone either way, but somehow it just worked. The heart of the song remains intact, the tune is no different than what we have come to know, but we never lose Charli's patented synth and almost ghostly vocals. Not quite as poppy as the original and just a bit more sassy, the cover shows that Charli XCX is willing to tackle a range of material, and does it rather classily. With positive reviews on her album and collaborations with artists like Danny Brown and tour partner Marina and the Diamonds, right now the English indie/pop singer's career is only moving up. I'm just happy she didn't cover One Direction but, then again, I was born in the ’90s.
Charli XCX is currently on tour until August 23rd. Listen to more of her music on her Soundcloud here.
