Pop icon Brooke Candy on Candyland and working with Charli XCX

After five years away, pop trailblazer Brooke Candy is back with a new album. But riding the wave of queer women dominating pop – even with the help of Charli XCX – isn’t always straightforward.

“I was so nervous that nobody was going to like it, or nobody would listen,” Candy tells PinkNews in the days after Candyland, her second studio album, arrived on streaming services.

The album is infused with trademark pop punches and spiky lyrics about riding d*ck and doing pills, and, to be blunt, it’s everything.

“Now that it’s out and I’ve got such a positive response, I feel relieved and happy, and very grateful. I can’t believe people like it so much. The main note I’ve got is ‘no skips’, so I’m gonna get that as a tattoo.”

The tattoo plans aren’t a joke: Brooke is a fully qualified tattooist. And the fear about people possibly not liking the thumping, heaving album, containing bangers “Lollipop”, “Pills” and “Juicy”, also isn’t a joke.

“I feel that in everything I do. It’s my curse in life that no matter what I make, I just fixate on and obsess over. But I think that voice is what propels me forward. I always want to get better. I’m always on that kind of path.”

So that’s inspiration number-one for what can only be described as an ascension to full-on pop-star mode, a journey that began in 2013 with a mixtape called, fairly, The Mixtape, then an EP in 2014 and debut album Sexorcism in 2019. What are the others?

“I really do love pop music,” Brooke says. “But my other drive is revenge on haters, and people [who] have doubted me, or ripped me off, or didn’t give me the time of day. I’m like: ‘Just you wait’.”

Brooke is a pop star informed by pop stars. Candyland contains lyrics such as: “Never had to starf*ck to get to the top, I trailblaze h*es, the real sl*t pop”, a reference to a Slayyyter album, and an EP of the same name by Kim Petras.

Those who have exerted the most influence on her are Madonna and Britney Spears, with Blackout tagged as the inspiration for the latest album.

But Brooke, by her own admission, “never feels like a pop star”, although she does admit there’s an evolution from the first album to now which could lead down that path.

“I think my art is more accessible now because it’s less crass,” she says. “I didn’t have the awareness in 2019 to even know what I was doing was vulgar. It’s so delusional. I don’t know if I really liked being an exhibitionist, or if I just didn’t know that I was one.

“But now, I would rather be more tongue-in-cheek and subtle with those references than right in your face.”

One person who helped craft that approach is pop star of the moment Charli XCX, who co-wrote the album’s third single, “Block”. The pair have worked together in the past, too, with Brooke appearing as a feature on the brat-in-chief’s 2017 track “I Got It”.

And Brooke has nothing but compliments about working with the viral-craze-prompting star, who rubbed shoulders with everyone from Billie Eilish to Lorde in the rollout for Brat.

Candy, however is not having a brat summer.

“I’m having a Candyland summer. Charli and [I] have a long history and we’ve partied together. She’s such a cool person, who’s always had my back. I’m bratting it up.”

Charli doesn’t fall into the trope of “female-pop-star-vs-female-pop-star” that one might imagine, Brooke adds.

“She doesn’t act like your typical ‘female in music’. Most people are like your frenemy. And that’s sad because it’s obviously not ideal and I hate it personally. A lot of people in this business really have their eyes on the prize, and aren’t trying to be friends.

“But Charli has always presented me with opportunities. She brought me on her tour, she put me on her song, and she’s always seen my art and appreciated what I am capable of contributing. I feel very grateful for that.”

Brooke, who is openly pansexual, is part of a global takeover of queer women in pop (straight people: be afraid, very afraid). Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, boygenius and even JoJo Siwa have turned 2024 into the annus (stop giggling at the back) mirabilis of gay pop.

So how does she feel about being part of that wave, and collabing with queer artists such as TikTok diva Rickey Thompson and Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix? Perhaps unsurprisingly, fairly modest – at least at first.

“It’s incredible. I feel very grateful that you said I’m part of that. Those girls are having such a moment, and I feel, even after all these years, I’m still so underground. But I do feel like part of that crew.

“I’ve always been in that scene where I’m going to drag shows. I’m going to gay clubs. All my friends are gay. And that’s just how my life was. It wasn’t even by choice. It just was what it was, and is. And it’s nice to see someone like Chappell Roan, who is more mainstream, wearing drag makeup.”

As ever, with Brooke Candy, there’s a sting in the tail of that answer. “I will say this: I’m a basic b*tch. I, like, love [Canadian singer ]Tate McRae. I like that kind of pop star. I just want that nostalgia, like, ‘I’m just gonna wear a dazzled belly shirt and then flip my hair on stage. I just love it.”

Candyland is available to stream now.

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