Previously published November 25, 2025
charli xcx’s viral Substack post (and general platform presence) has inspired a lot of thought not only on this platform but also on Twitter, where people are buzzing and booing about the idea of it. It’s rich food for thought — and I’m curious what others think about it. “I enjoyed where Charlie XCX arrived at,” strategist and advertiser James Whatley shared, using the thoughts presented as a means to reorient yourself as a working creative. “‘I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m just knowing that I’m trying to push things forward.’”...As a creative provocation, to take back into your workplace, what am I doing? What’s the impetus of driving me forward? I’ve got to hit the KPIs for this brief, but am I trying to move things forward with this work that we’re delivering? That it’s interesting.” Indeed! For Ben Dietz, there was something about the mundanity of celebrity. It reminded him of an experience nearly twenty years ago, waiting to see a movie at the recently opened — and first American — Soho House. “Lou Reed was in the line,” Ben said. “The guy that was talking to him as we walked past, he said to Lou, ‘So, Lou, why’d you switch to Verizon?’ And and I was like…’Why does Lou Reed even know where his cell service comes from? This is a god among men. Why would he be aware of that?’ The thing I thought that was funny about this Charli post was she was just like, ‘Yeah, you know, sometimes riding in in limousines and yelling out the top and all that cliched shit is awesome and other times you’re in liminal spaces.’” And Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick? He thinks it’s great — but complicated and performative. What does it mean for a pop star like Charli to now “be a newsletter” writer, on the social platform where people go to pretend to be smart, where perception of intelligence is a social currency? That was a specific choice, as she could have started a Ghost or done like Lorde or Florence — but she came here. That is a choice, one that raises and lowers the ways and means of this game. Alas: all of social is the same gamble. James, Ben, and Kyle chat this, why Minecraft beats Wicked, and the appeal of Kelly Cutrone in our latest podcast.
