At the halfway point of her six week project to write, record and release an album in lockdown, Chari XCX has said that it has helped her to cope during the COVID-19 crisis.
"I'd be really, really struggling ", she tells the BBC. "I would just be lost if I wasn't doing this. And there are a lot of other creative people who can't work during this time - so, for me, doing this project is also a way to support some of those people, whether that be video editors, or the painters who are doing my artwork, or 3D designers, or video directors".
"I wanted to do the album in an intense period of time, because I thought it would be more fun for people watching, and also because there's more likely to be some kind of screw-up or error in a short amount of time, which is probably more interesting", she adds.
On how the project might affect her way of working once lockdown measures have been lifted, she says: "Part of me is like, 'I don't know why I haven't made an album like this before'. I'm enjoying not travelling and being still and focusing on my music. That's something I never did before. It was always one million things going on at once, and taking a day here and there to record. So I think that will change, because I love recording like this".
Not that it's all been plain sailing, she adds: "Recording my own vocals ", she says. "I haven't done that since I was fifteen and making demos in my parents' house. I'm so slow and it drives me crazy. I literally want to throw something at myself".
Having launched the project earlier this month, Charli XCX has been posting regular updates on how things are going, discussing ideas with fans on Zoom chats, and has already put out two singles from the album, 'Claws' and 'Forever'. The finished record is set for release on 15 May.