AG Cook/Charli XCX – Lucifer

Kicking around my head since its release, this song has remained on repeat throughout this year. It preceded BRAT summer and all that Charli would accomplish as a newly mainstream artist, but grabbed my attention moreso than any individual track in the BRAT universe.

Being that AG Cook is her most frequent collaborator, it’s just as much a Charli song as anything she’s self-released.

Vaguely chronicling her experience of feeling like an asshole for calling Lucifer, you start wondering, who is Lucifer? If they’re so harmful, why do I call them? Why am I so apt to invite the pain? Why am I like this?

We all have moments of inviting our personal demons. It could be an unresolved feud, some struggle getting past a personal failure, or beating yourself up for not making the progress in life that you wanted to. Whether it’s for intrigue, curiosity or masochism, we all call Lucifer.

This song finds Charli working out where this urge comes from and how to rectify it in her solitary time. As a listener, you find peace knowing that you’re not the only psycho forcing yourself back into the wheel of habit. It’s frustrating and regrettable, but entirely human. AG Cooks stark mechanic production of whirs, zips and booms contrasts the very primal feeling of kicking yourself when you’re down, leading to no progress.

We can reflect and be self aware, which this song promotes. It’s a better move to get past your self-defeating patterns and learn to let yourself grow. Hang up the phone.