Charli XCX confirms she pulled out of NFT festival following fan backlash

NME

Charli XCX has confirmed that she backed out of performing at an NFT festival due to backlash from her fans about its exclusivity.

• READ MORE: Mark, My Words: Charli XCX’s ‘How I’m Feeling Now’ is just stage one of pandemic albums

The pop singer said in a new interview that fans gave her a “lot of flack” over her decision to play Afterparty, an event taking place in Las Vegas later this month with headlining sets from the Chainsmokers and The Kid LAROI.

But only those who own a Utopian NFT, can fund their own Utopian NFT or were invited by the owner of a Utopian NFT could attend the event. Some Charli XCX fans questioned her move to play an NFT event, saying the community is “negative” and “rife with plagiarism”.

“I pulled out of the festival. That was my decision that I made and I didn’t feel the need to announce it or let them know or whatever — but I did pull out,” Charli told Rolling Stone UK in an interview published yesterday (March 2).

Well my question is why support them.. There are reasons why NFTs are bad for artists beyond just the environmental reasons – the community is rife with plagerism and I think if she wasn’t aware of people’s negative opinions she wouldn’t be so hush about promoting the performance

— Bank (@Bankeron_) February 10, 2022

The Afterparty backlash appeared to be linked to Charli’s decision to take a break from social media last month.

In February, she said that she was stepping back due to the “negativity” surrounding her current campaign promoting her fifth album ‘CRASH‘, which arrives on March 18.

The singer has since returned to social media including Twitter, responding to critics of her new single ‘Baby‘ and saying that she’s unaffected by some people’s poor reactions to it.

Charli wrote: “Not bothered that some people will always have their preferred eras etc (that’s why it’s fun being an angel – there’s so much variety) – but if you don’t think baby is a bop then… idk that’s just v suspicious to me…”

also – again – not bothered that some people will always have their preferred eras etc (that’s why it’s fun being an angel – there’s so much variety) – but if you don’t think baby is a bop then… idk that’s just v suspicious to me…

— Charli (@charli_xcx) March 1, 2022

Elsewhere in the interview with Rolling Stone UK, Charli opened up about how she’s been feeling “quite low throughout 2022”.

“I’ve never cared if you like my music or hate my music — don’t listen to it if you don’t like it — but I think at a time when I was already feeling quite low, that kind of rhetoric honestly just really hurt my feelings,” she said.

Meanwhile, ‘Baby’, which follows Charli’s collaboration ‘Beg For You’ with Rina Sawayama, is “about great sex”, the singer said in a recent interview.

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