If there is such thing as rebirth, the teen dream is definitely having a moment. Rose McGowan killed it back in 1999 in Jawbreaker, and Charli XCX — with a little help from the wildly underrated Marina & the Diamonds album, Electra Heart — is giving it new life.
“Break The Rules,” the new single off Charli’s forthcoming album, Sucker, embodies everything the Teen Idle movement stands for: rebellion and tongue-in-cheek provocations — all done while smacking your bubblegum. But, unlike the realities of high school, this youthful abandon is free of naivety. All the dancing on buses and dressing like an extra from Drop Dead Gorgeous is done out of an urge to break free from those repressed formative years. Now twentysomethings, having played by the rules to get to where they want, get to be those Neve Campbell girls the movies mystified.
Call it foolish. Call it juvenile. But, this is what we like to call reclaiming our youth.