Watch Charli XCX Cover “I Want Candy” In San Francisco
If you’ve seen the video of her doing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” you know Charli XCX is good at live covers. And during the encore of her Friday night show at San Francisco’s Slim’s, she busted out a new one: A version of “I Want Candy,” the Strangeloves’ 1965 garage-rock hit that Bow Wow Wow famously covered in 1982. Charli recently told us the song has one of the best choruses of all time. About a million people have covered it, and all the covers are, at the very least, listenable. (Shout out to Aaron Carter.) Charli’s verion is considerably better than listenable. Chloe Chaidez of opening band Kitten helped out, and you can watch a fan-made video below.
Charli’s got a new album coming soon, which is good news for all of us.