Charli XCX Returns to the Raves on “Forever,” The First Track From how i’m feeling now

Just this week, Charli XCX announced she would be recording a new album during the COVID-19 quarantine. Later that day, she shared a snippet of the instrumental for the first track titled “Forever,” then, three hours later, shared some of her vocals atop it via Instagram Live. In the last two days, she’s shown videos of her lyric writing process and shared potential images for the single’s official cover, which will be released in three separate forms by Seth Bogart, Caroline Polachek and Regards Coupables. Originally, via a Zoom session, Charli said “Forever” wouldn’t be dropping until April 13, but she moved that date up to today, debuting the song on BBC1 Radio DJ Annie Mac’s Future Sounds show.

“This time of isolation and quarantine, for me it’s been okay, but for me to feel positive I need to feel creative,” she told Jack Saunders on BBC1 Radio, just after the song’s premiere. She’s earnest about her process, given the bare-bones way she’s going about the recording process: “I decided I’m going to create a brand new album from scratch during this isolation period with only the tools I can reach with my fingertips and the people I can connect with online… It could be all be a disaster, and I could absolutely fail, and there could be no songs ready. Or it could go pretty well and be okay. Only time will tell.”

The track itself is crunchy with liberal darkwave influence, hearkening back to Charli’s early days during the True Romance era. The lyrics are sentimental and honest which, coupled with a trancey breakdown, make for a perfect dance-in-your-bedroom bop. If “Forever” is any indication, how i’m feeling now will be Charli having fun, playing with rough sounds and unafraid to be a bit messy.

“All of the songs are very indicative of the time I’m in… the feelings I’m experiencing as I’m going through quarantine. ‘Forever’ was a song I wrote literally just before I went into quarantine with a producer named BJ Burton [Bon Iver, Lizzo] who is going to be executive producing the album alongside myself and AG Cook,” she told Saunders. “It’s a really emotional song about my relationship. Me and my partner are in a long distance relationship, he lives in New York and I live in Los Angeles… There’s a lot of distance between us, and at the time I wrote that song, we were very separate,” she says. “We’ve been quarantining together and actually, it’s been really positive for us. It’s been this whole journey we’re on together… I feel more in love than ever before.”

Charli also announced her Beats 1 Radio show would be returning for a new season titled “Inside The Candy Shop,” where she will be sharing her how i’m feeling now demos and playing songs she’s currently obsessed with. The first episode will premiere tomorrow, April 10, and features Caroline Polachek discussing the single art she’s done for “Forever” and what she’s currently working on.

Listen to “Forever” below.