Yesterday at an in-store performance at Chicago’s Borderline Music, Charli XCX debuted a smoldering cover of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way.” Already a moody song by boy-band standards, Charli molded the track to fit her ’80s-leaning synth pop, twisting it with misty keyboards and drum machine ticks into something well-fitted for her debut LP, True Romance.
Meanwhile, Charli’s own pop smash — “I Love It,” the revving hit she wrote for Icona Pop — is holding strong on the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10. The duo performed the song at the Billboard Awards this past weekend.
