XCX World

In July 2015, Charli XCX shared in an interview that she was working on her third album and described it as "the most pop thing, and the most electronic thing" she has ever done.[3] Scottish producer SOPHIE, along with BloodPop and StarGate, were confirmed to be involved in the album's production. She worked with other pop songwriters and producers such as MNDR, The Invisible Men and MNEK during the album's sessions as well. In July 2016, it was announced that British producer A. G. Cook, founder of record label PC Music, had signed on as Charli's creative director.[4] On 28 October 2016, the single "After the Afterparty" was released. A music video was released two days later. The song charted at 29 on the UK Singles Chart and was certified silver by the BPI. On 8 February 2017, Charli performed the track on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, along with an unreleased song titled "Bounce", featuring Japanese artist Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.[5] Charli said in an interview that month that her album was finished and to be released in September.

On 20 August 2017, multiple songs from the album leaked on the internet, which led to the album being scrapped. Charli ultimately decided to focus on making an entirely new third studio album, which eventually became Charli (2019). In September 2019, Charli revealed in an interview with FADER that she never officially gave the album an official title, and that was the work of fans. She stated that the album "was never really a fully formed thing", but that she indeed had already shot the album artwork and was about to shoot music videos before the leak happened. Charli stated in the same interview that the decision to scrap the album was "out of [her] hands", and the material will never be released because "that time is really tainted because somebody hacked me." [6] However, fan favourite unreleased song "Taxi" was performed in a virtual concert in March 2020.[7]