Charli XCX releases her official music video for ‘Speed Drive’, her track from Barbie The Album. ‘Speed Drive’ has amassed over 70M global streams, hit #9 on the UK Official Charts and entered the Billboard Hot 100 becoming Charli’s fifth song to chart in the US.
Filmed in Los Angeles, the video was directed Ramez Silyan, starring Charli and Devon Lee Carlson racing a pink Corvette convertible under the Californian sun. In the video Charli teases an upcoming project with Sam Smith when she receives a phone call from Sam on her Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5.
Charli continues to position herself as a prolific collaborator in the film space, producing original scores and tracks for feature film story-telling. Earlier this year Charli made ‘Hot Girl’, the official song for A24 teen slasher film Bodies, Bodies, Bodies directed by Halina Reijn and starring Rachel Sennott; the track instantly went down as a cult fan favorite. She has contributed to the original score of teen queer comedy Bottoms directed by Emma Seligman releasing August 25th in the US. Next up Charli is co-executive producing with Jack Antonoff the musical score for Mother Mary, David Lowry’s film which follows a fictional pop musician starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole due for release in 2024. As an actress Charli has been cast in the reboot of the 1978 cult horror classic Faces of Death which is currently under production.
Atlantic Records’ Barbie The Album, the groundbreaking and star-studded musical companion to Warner Bros. Pictures’ Barbie, now surpasses over 1B global streams. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is now officially #1 at the global box office surpassing $1B worldwide and counting.
“Speed Drive” features vibrant lyrics with internet and cultural references to Japan and Van Gogh. “Kawaii like we’re in Tokyo Devon Lee smile, teeth a white row Got a classic, real deep, Van Gogh”. Unexpectantly, the song cuts to a phone call with Charli and a friend, but then gets back into the song. The chorus of “Speed Drive” inserts the chorus of Toni Basil’s “Hey Micket” which interpolated Racey’s 1979 track “Kitty”. “Ah-ah, Barbie, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind Jump into the driver’s seat and put it into speed drive”. There is a reference to Barbie with the lyrics “looking with that side eye” which the original Barbie did. The original doll is shown in the opening of the 2023 film. The video ends with the chorus and post chorus repeating.