The 100 Best Songs of 2024: #09 Charli XCX: “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde”

“Girl, so confusing,” like much of BRAT, is all about trying to construct an identity out of the projections of the people around you. Charli XCX addresses a woman who seems lukewarm about their friendship. She recognizes the similarities between them—they have the same hair, they make similar art—but agonizes over whether or not they’re actually connecting. Underlying all the angst is an existential worry: “Who am I, really, if this powerful, talented woman doesn’t like me?”

《Girl, so confusing》，和 BRAT 中的许多作品一样，聚焦于从周围人的投射中构建自我认同的尝试。Charli XCX 唱的是一个对她们之间的友谊似乎态度冷淡的女人。她发现她们之间的相似之处：她们有着相同的发型，创造着相似的作品——但她却因为她们之间是否建立了真正的友谊而辗转反侧，焦虑不安。在这些焦虑的深处，藏着一个存在主义式的担忧：“如果这位强大又才华横溢的女性不喜欢我，那我究竟是谁呢？”

The genius of the song is in the remix’s feature: In her deftest songwriting since 2017’s Melodrama, Lorde reveals that she is the woman in question. She also divulges that her aloofness was its own performance, a way of protecting herself when she felt vulnerable, and when Charli’s life seemed comparatively carefree. The song reveals the level of performance ingrained in women since childhood—we are constantly compared and therefore constantly comparing, assumed to exist in the service of others from birth. And yet, in revealing the way two women misunderstand each other based on their own insecurities, the song also charts a path forward. It exemplifies the empathy and learning that can accompany a transition from girlhood into womanhood. –Vrinda Jagota

这首歌的天才之处就在于混音版本的这位合作歌手：在她自2017年专辑《Melodrama》以来最巧妙的词作中，Lorde 揭示出自己正是歌中提到的那位女性。她还坦白，她的冷漠实际上是一种表演，是在自己感到脆弱、而 Charli 的生活显得相对无忧无虑时，用来保护自己的方式。歌曲揭露了女性从孩童时期就根植在心的表演心理——我们总是不断地被比较，从出生起就被假定为他人服务而存在。然而，在揭示两个女性如何因各自的不安全感而误解彼此的同时，这首歌也指出了一条前进的道路。它展现了从女孩成长为女性的过程中，所能伴随的同理心和学习能力。