On the heels of releasing the B-side to “Rock Music,” “I Keep Thinking Bout You Every Single Day and Night,” Charli XCX has not only offered yet another single, “SS26,” from her forthcoming seventh studio album, but also quickly provided another B-side in the form of “Playboy Bunny.” And, considering that said “brand” was especially popular in the 2000s, it aligns in more ways than one with “SS26,” which speaks on the hollowness of, among other things, the fashion industry. Which was arguably “porn-ified” throughout the 00s by the mainstream nature of Playboy (see: the 2000 episode of Sex and the City titled “Sex and Another City”—and yes, XCX incidentally seems to reference the season four episode of that show titled “The Real Me” in her “SS26” video).
The nuanced connection between “SS26” and “Playboy Bunny” isn’t just about certain thematic parallels, but also, as XCX put it during a video she posted to her Instagram account,
“So basically I made a record and whilst making the record, I made a few songs that felt like a part of the world of the album but I kind of knew they weren’t ever gonna be on the album, so they became the sort of B-sides, I suppose. The things that were, like close to making it on the album but are not gonna be on there and also those songs, the B-sides, are sort of like coupled with, um, some of the songs that are coming out, like, ahead of the album. So, you know, ‘I Keep Thinking Bout You Every Single Day and Night’ is the B-side to ‘Rock Music.’ And I think the reason that they’re paired together, these, you know, two songs are because in ways, like, they’re totally opposite from each other. And that is kind of, um, the sort of main point of them. It’s sort of a mirror, you know. So there will be a B-side to ‘SS26’ and it’s called ‘Playboy Bunny’ and there are specifically, like, sonic things about it that are extremely opposite to ‘SS26’ and I think that’s what made it a good B-side, a good pair.”
As usual, XCX, isn’t wrong. For, despite the moody, more “hard-edged” guitar riffs of “Playboy Bunny” (which embodies “rock music” far more than her lead single of the same name) that directly contrast the softer guitar notes of “SS26,” each one touches on the notions of vapidity and “being blasé.” As for the accompanying video to “Playboy Bunny,” directed by XCX’s long-time photographer, Henry Redcliffe, like “I Keep Thinking Bout You Every Single Day and Night,” it’s also “simple” in “concept” (perhaps too strong a word for what’s happening in the video) and is shot in black and white, as if to further emphasize its “B-side” quality. Not quite “worthy” of color, if you will.
What’s more, not even worthy being totally sober for as Redcliffe captioned his announcement of the video with, “Charli and I shot this video the day after the ‘SS26’ video. We were extremely hungover.” XCX also corroborated that statement with her own caption, “Was honestly v hungover lol xx.” And yet, that’s what works for the “aesthetic” of this particular video, also shot in Paris. As was “Rock Music” and “SS26”—though “I Keep Thinking Bout You Every Single Day and Night” was instead shot in Kyoto while Charli was filming something else (and, as was the case for Aidan Zamiri [who directed that video], Redcliffe also ends up being “spottable” in a mirror shot of Charli).
To be sure, that city appears to have been very influential throughout the making of this album, with all of XCX’s behind-the-scenes footage thus far highlighting the kind of “art life” existence that is still both respected and romanticized in the “City of Light.” Or, in XCX’s case, the “City of Rock” (after all, Jim Morrison is buried there). Even if there are times when “Playboy Bunny” is more, let’s say, “Avril Lavigne rock” than “The Doors rock.” Perhaps to make up for that in certain ways, XCX is sure to appear as “rocknrolla” as possible, wearing a white leather moto jacket and low-rise black jeans (or at least they appear black in this shot-in-black-and-white video) that give her an exposed midriff.
And as she, er, rocks this look throughout the streets of Paris, XCX encounters most of the expected landmarks of the city, including the Eiffel Tower, Invalides (which gets far more play than it ever has in most other “pop culture pieces”) and the Jardin des Tuileries. Granted, it doesn’t seem as if she’s “visiting” any of these places with much “intention”—just sort of unthinkingly seeing where her hungover husk might take her (sadly, Père Lachaise isn’t one of those places…then again, maybe it would have been too cheeseball for her to visit Jim’s grave [Oscar Wilde’s, on the other hand…]).
In between these moments of her amongst landmarks (to be sure, most of what’s contained within Paris is a landmark), Redcliffe intercuts scenes of her mucking about in her hotel room or riding in a cab. Both signifiers of being a “rock star.” As it is to, for most of the song (starting from the beginning), languidly sing a chorus that goes, “Write a song with one word/Write a song like a slogan/Write a song and then print it on a t-shirt/Write a song like the Playboy bunny.” While that “simile” might not make sense to some, it’s clear that part of Charli’s intent with it is to say that she wants to write a song that’s as “instantly iconic” as, say, the Playboy logo/brand at large. Something that is so legendary people immediately attach a meaning to it (the irony being that “Playboy Bunny” as a song isn’t iconic at all, and will probably only best be remembered by Charli’s die-hard Angels).
Elsewhere in the track, she adds in a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation with the lyrics, “Ah, ah-ah, ah/All my music sounds the same/Well, that’s because I made it.” This perhaps being a bit of shade-throwing at her detractors, in addition to a comment on how, as a musical artist, it’s difficult to be objective about one’s own work. And, considering XCX has been a staple of the dance floor for so long, maybe she needed to do whatever was necessary to break free from that sound (and especially the “Brat sound”) so that she could finally hear something different in her music (ergo, the current crop of songs she’s been offering).
All while still wanting to “write a song like the Playboy bunny.” A.k.a. something “classic,” “well-known” and, even if not exactly “respected,” at least taken seriously as a cultural force. All of these descriptors being applicable to Charli (who tends to fluctuate between getting respect and flak depending on the album or single cycle). As is the characterization of her being oftentimes more “obsessed” with the marketing side of music than music itself. Hence, not only mentioning a “USP” (“unique selling point”) in “SS26,” but also bringing Playboy bunny branding into the way she wants to write a song, further summed up by the verse, “Write a song that looks good/Then get it tattooed on your skin/I don’t mind if you love it or you hate it/Kind of cool if I make you laugh/All my music sounds the same/Sometimes I wish didn’t make it/So I could be a listener watching for the first time.” Indeed, it’s telling that XCX should phrase that last line as a “listener watching” instead of listening. For, like Madonna before her, XCX is keenly aware that image (and images) is perhaps over half of what it entails to be a pop star.
And now that she seems to have everyone’s attention, XCX appears hellbent on deflecting it with being as “esoteric” as she can. That is, as esoteric as she can for someone who has become so “in the mainstream” that they’re starting to have as many endorsement deals as Kim Kardashian (and, on a related note: Charli XCX did lend her name and image to a Skims campaign post-Brat).
Buy The Brat of Pop (Volume 1) here.
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