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CXLOE is Australia’s newest pop royalty

Words by Jasmine Wallis

All hail.

If Kylie is our pop princess then CXLOE is the antichrist. And the self-proclaimed dark-pop monarch says it’s better the devil you don’t know.

After releasing a number of tracks over the past 12 months, including ‘SICK’ featuring gnash, ‘Low Blow’, and the ear-worm, ‘Show You’, the alt-pop artist has said that her latest song came the most naturally to her.

“It kind of vomited out of me, sometimes a lot of the songs take a while to finesse but this one, I was in a room with three people, and I’d told them a bit about what was going on in my life at the time. We came back to the phrase, ‘It’s better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t’, meaning it’s easier to not know what someone’s capable of sometimes.”

Although she’s yet to release an album, 26-year-old CXLOE has been working on her music since high school and has taken the time to figure out what genre she really wanted to explore.

“I was always writing music. It wasn’t the sound you hear today, I kind of dabbled in folk music and a bit of country and I kept writing to see where my sound actually fit.”

The Sydney-born artist also travelled to America to try and breakthrough in the notoriously tough LA music industry. She cites this experience as the reason she was forced to write for herself and find her voice. She now splits her time between the two creative cities.

“I couldn’t really get in any rooms with anyone so I had to learn how to write on my own until people would take a chance and be like, ‘Oh okay, I’ll jump in with you’. It took a few years for that to happen but it forced me to write on my own for a long time.”

Growing up listening to artists such as Broods, Lykke Li, BANKS, and Tove Lo, CXLOE says she was influenced by the way those artists largely use pop as their base, but pull in threads of alternative and indie sounds.

“It isn’t straight down the middle pop, it’s a little bit to the left and that’s something I took when I was trying to figure out my sound.”

As well as her catchy electro-beats and hauntingly crisp vocals, CXLOE likes to put on a show. She believes using her aesthetic and style helps her get into character when performing.

“It’s all part of being an artist. I think music’s one thing but also the look and the aesthetics and the show, it encompasses everything. It takes the music to another level and you can create a world.”

The dark-pop world CXLOE has created seems to be resonating with audiences as she’s amassed over 22 million streams before releasing an album.

“I love pop music full stop. But I think for me as a person, sonically and lyrically, I lean more towards sounds that are a bit grittier and grungier. All of the tones are cold as opposed to warm, but I still love pop and the catchiness and “hook-iness”. My music is just a blend of me really.”

Her debut album set to be released early next year and two festival slots (This That and Falls) will close out 2019.

Check out her latest single here.

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