BOLD WuRLD

When I spoke with Singer-Songwriter CHXRL over an Instagram video call it was 8:43 in the Cayman Islands where he had just caught a flight to from his hometown Johannesburg.

With a coffee in his hand, he sat cross-legged under an emerald green palm-tree that I couldn’t help but notice matched the colour of his oversized t-shirt.

CHXRL, just turned 19, was very chill about the whole thing, and it was easy to see where his music gets its spirit from. CHXRL describes his music as “super lyrically driven” and I’m inclined to agree with him when his debut album Autumn, starts off with the touching and approachable song Normal. In it, he sings about being just the opposite and coming to grips with his daring to take the path less trodden as a budding indie musician in Johannesburg.

“The song is really just about going out with friends and getting wasted to reconnect with them to get some feeling of Normality back after deciding not to go to university”

CHXRL shows his diversity with the title track of the album, that finds him crooning over heavy electric guitar riffs and singing nostalgically of cut-ties and burnt bridges. It is clear to see why it’s the song he named the album after as it’s definitely a stand-out on the 9 track LP.

CHXRL’s music comes across much as he does. His pop sound registers as extremely approachable but when you listen to the lyrics it becomes obvious that there is more than meets the ear. When it comes to writing CHXRL normally starts with finding a cool chord progression and then adds lyrics to match the music. His chill demeanour comes through in his songwriting while the album feels extremely natural; “let the song be what it wants to be” says CHXRL.