CHARLI XCX IS LEVITATING a couple of feet over a DJ booth. “My fans like pop music and poppers. Guess they really know what’s uppppp!” she drawls like an automaton with vocal fry. Air horns pierce through the torchlit rave dungeon. As she reaches the chorus of a new demo she’s calling “Generation,” the crowd has fully turned into a mosh pit, including someone in a Scream mask. CHARLI CHARLI CHARLI CHARLI CHARLI reads the scrolling comments section, alongside TRANS RIGHTS and LEGALIZE DUBSTEP.
Right—this performance is taking place inside the universe of Minecraft, the most popular video game of the past decade, in which players build upon its pixelated terrain and congregate with friends and strangers. Tonight, Charli is one of the headliners of Square Garden, a virtual music festival organized by 100 gecs, the experimental-pop duo whose Monster Energy–fueled maximalism makes a compelling case for the joys of having your brain permanently mangled by the internet. Charli isn’t what you’d call a connoisseur of world-building games herself: “I don’t know what Minecraft is,” she deadpans in her stately British accent at the start of her set. But that’s neither here nor there. If this is how we party now, Charli XCX is here for it.
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