Everyone knows Charli xcx’s music makes for incredible club bangers. But if you listen a bit more closely to her songs, you’ll realize that some of them are actually pretty deep. Case in point: “party 4 u,” a song from Charli’s 2020 album How I’m Feeling Now that’s had a recent resurgence and is now going viral on TikTok. The track is a dreamy bop, but the lyrics — as well as a specific moment in the song — have Charli fans on TikTok debating the true meaning of it.
The moment in question comes about three-quarters of the way through the song. After Charli sings for multiple verses about throwing a party for someone she has history with, but them not showing up, the song almost seems to start glitching. Charli’s voice is heard repeating “party on-party on you, party on you” over and over again, as a minimal beat plays in the background. I’m no music theory major, but there’s undoubtedly something about it that evokes a strong feeling in listeners. But what, exactly, that feeling is has been up for debate among TikTokers.
“This sounds EXACTLY like when you realise they will never again be the person you first met and there’s nothing you can do about it,” TikToker Georgie Hansen wrote in a post accompanied by that clip of the song. Another creator named Poppy said, “this part of the song is going to bathroom mid-party and becoming conscious that ur acting like a completely different person.” And yet another take from musician Tyler Devine claimed, “you’re all wrong. this song is crying in the club. it’s seeing the person u like kiss someone else. it’s the uber home alone.”
However, mother has spoken to quiet the discourse. On April 22, Charli xcx herself took to TikTok to explain exactly what that part of the song means to her: “this is actually the moment you realize that that one person isn’t ever coming to your party so you stand in the middle of the room, tears briefly fill your eyes but then you wipe them away, pretend you’re ok and proceed to get unbelievably fckd up and then spend the next week feeling completely ashamed of yourself xx.”
So, there you have it: the true meaning of that emotional moment in “party 4 u.” But even though Charli shared her POV on the song, that doesn’t mean all the other takes are moot. When it comes to music, everyone is going to have their own interpretation — and in this case, it’s incredibly entertaining to consider them all. As influencer Jake Shane put it, “I have read every party 4 u take in full. It makes me feel like im back in English class. I can’t stop. Each take evokes emotion in me that I thought I’d never feel again.” And for that, we say, thank you, Charli.