Charli XCX Unveils Previously Unreleased Live Track, ‘Vroom Vroom’

If we've learned nothing else about Charli XCX from the dramatic transition from her unreleased debut album 14 to major label debut True Romance and follow-up LP Sucker, it's that the last thing she wants to do is waste time sticking to a single sound. 14 saw Charli experimenting with what she now refers to as "f--king terrible Myspace music," while True Romance was filled with darkwave and electro-inspired pop (and a few hints of hip-hop thrown in for good measure).

Sucker was a major departure from both of her previous efforts, in that Charli finally found a way to create pop music without sacrificing the punk aesthetic she claims to always have been drawn to. But despite in-your-face anthems like "Sucker" and "Breaking Up," tracks like "Boom Clap" and "Break the Rules" were a great reminder that she's above all a pop artist at the end of the day.

And now Charli has given us another taste of just how varied her sound palette is by dropping a previously unreleased track that Stereogum implies was a live fan favorite over the summer. The track is called "Vroom Vroom," and it boasts production credit from London-based producer SOPHIE, whom she's reportedly been working with extensively on her third album.

On "Vroom Vroom," Charli's sass is in full form as she combines her signature rap-style vocals with softer ballad moments and some underground deep house vibes. "All my life I've been waiting for a good time," Charli sweetly admits in the chorus before the beat drops and things get strange (in the best way possible). We get booms, beeps, zooms, and of course plenty of vrooms—all strung together with a club-ready, elastic bass line that makes the onomatopoeias actually sound appealing instead of just silly.

"Vroom Vroom" has yet to be officially noted as her third album's lead single, as Spin points out, so it's difficult to guess what this new track implies. It could very well be a strong indication of what we can expect from the new album. Or it could be another "SuperLove" situation, where a brilliant POP song is meant to fill the void between albums yet ultimately bears little, if any, resemblance to the finished product.

Let's hope it's not the latter.

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