Talk Talk (Charli XCX song)

"Talk Talk" (stylized as "Talk talk") is a song by British singer Charli XCX. It was first released on 7 June 2024 as the fifth track on her sixth studio album Brat and was written about her fiancé George Daniel. A remix of the song featuring Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan and uncredited spoken word from Dua Lipa was released on 12 September 2024 as a single from Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat and the third collaboration between Charli XCX and Sivan.

"Talk Talk"
Single by Charli XCX featuring Troye Sivan
from the album Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat
Released	12 September 2024 (2024-09-12)
Genre	House
Length	2:53
Label	Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	Charlotte Aitchison Alexander Cook Ross Birchard Troye Mellet Brett McLaughlin Kaelyn Behr Kevin Hickey
Producer(s)	A. G. Cook Hudson Mohawke Zhone Novodor Styalz Fuego
Charli XCX singles chronology
"Apple" (2024) "Talk Talk" (2024)
Troye Sivan singles chronology
"Honey" (2024) "Talk Talk" (2024)
Lyric video
"Talk Talk featuring Troye Sivan" on YouTube

Original version and background

The original iteration of "Talk Talk", which appeared as an album track on Brat, was written by Charli XCX and producers A. G. Cook and Hudson Mohawke, and was released alongside the rest of the album by Atlantic Records on 7 June 2024. Discussing the song in a video posted to her TikTok, Charli stated that the song was inspired by an incident at the 2020 NME Awards, during which she was attracted to her future fiancé George Daniel but had not yet begun dating him. After tiring of texting Daniel, she went to follow him into the toilet, got halfway, but thought better of it. After releasing Brat, XCX released remixes of the Brat tracks "360" (with Robyn and Yung Lean), "Von Dutch" (with Addison Rae), "Girl, So Confusing" (with Lorde), and "Guess" (with Billie Eilish).

Remix

The remix of "Talk Talk" features frequent collaborator Troye Sivan.

A "Talk Talk" remix with Sivan was teased by both artists on social media prior to the official announcement, with Charli XCX posting a video to Twitter featuring her and Sivan dancing and lip-syncing to the new version of the song. Dua Lipa's involvement was also teased when Charli shared a voice note from Lipa on her private Instagram account, and the song's producers tagged Lipa and Sivan on their stories.Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat, the remix album of Brat, was announced on 12 September 2024 alongside the release of "Talk Talk" with Sivan. The song is the third collaboration between the two artists following "1999" and "2099", both from Charli XCX's self-titled third studio album Charli (2019), and its release coincided with the beginning of their co-headlining Sweat Tour which began a few days later on 14 September, where it was performed as the concert's encore. Lipa speaks French and Spanish on the track.

In an interview with Billboard, Sivan explained that Charli chose "Talk Talk" as the song for him to feature on, and stated that she had originally sent him the song while she was working on it for Brat. He explained that she encouraged him and his "Rush" collaborators Leland, Kaelyn Behr, Kevin "Zhone" Hickey, and Kevin Novodor, to use the original track as a "seed" to expand, and experiment with to create his own interpretation of the track, which led to the creation of an almost entirely new song which Sivan felt was akin to "sampling" the original version. Sivan expressed that Charli asked him to create a "two minute pop song rather than a six minute club song", and that he enjoyed taking "taking the scissors" to the original track and working collaboratively with Charli and her team to produce the remix.

Reception

In a mixed appraisal of the song, Tom Breihan of Stereogum stated that the remix is a "complete reworking of the original track that barely sounds anything like the original". Referring to the song as a "slamming house banger", he remarked on how the remix lacks the "incandescent hook" of the original version but does feature "some murmured French and Spanish Dua Lipa vocals on the intro". Breihan criticized the newer version of the song, expressing that "it's got none of the nervous vulnerability of the original 'Talk Talk'. Instead this one is just about being really excited to fuck".

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Talk Talk" Chart (2024) Peak position Australia (ARIA) 42 Australia Dance (ARIA) 2 Ireland (IRMA) 62 New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) 6 Weekly chart performance for "Talk Talk featuring Troye Sivan" Chart (2024) Peak position Canada (Canadian Hot 100) 66 Global 200 (Billboard) 91 Ireland (IRMA) 30 Latvia Airplay (TopHit) 7 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 65 New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) 5 South Korea BGM (Circle) 197 UK Singles (OCC) 24 UK Dance (OCC) 4 US Billboard Hot 100 74 US (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs) (Billboard) 5

Monthly charts Monthly chart performance for "Talk Talk featuring Troye Sivan" Chart (2024) Peak Position Latvia Airplay (TopHit) 11 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 76

References

1. "Charli XCX reveals 'Talk Talk' is about nearly following The 1975's George Daniel to the toilet at the NME Awards". NME. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
2. Monroe, Jazz (12 September 2024). "Charli XCX Announces Full Brat Remix Album, Enlists Troye Sivan for New "Talk Talk"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
3. Dailey, Hannah (10 September 2024). "Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Share NSFW Snippet of Unreleased 'Talk Talk' Remix: Listen". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
4. Rossignol, Derrick (12 September 2024). "Charli XCX Isn't Done With 'Brat' Yet As She Announces 'Brat And It's Completely Different But Also Still Brat'". Uproxx. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
5. "SWEAT — Troye Sivan & Charli XCX". Sweat-tour.com. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
6. "Is Dua Lipa On Charli XCX's "Talk Talk" Remix? It's Complicated". Nylon. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
7. "Troye Sivan Gets To "Talk talk" About Charli XCX Remix - Billboard News". YouTube. 14 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
8. Breihan, Tom (12 September 2024). "Charli XCX Announces Brat Remix Album & Shares "Talk talk" Remix With Troye Sivan". Stereogum. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
9. "ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
10. "ARIA Top 20 Dance Singles Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
11. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Charli XCX". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
12. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
13. "Charli XCX Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
14. "Charli XCX Chart History (Global 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
15. "Official Irish Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
16. "Top Radio Hits Latvia Weekly Chart: Sep 26, 2024". TopHit. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
17. "Top Radio Hits Lithuania Weekly Chart: Oct 17, 2024". TopHit. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
18. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
19. "BGM Chart – Week 37 of 2024". Circle Chart (in Korean). Retrieved 19 September 2024.
20. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
21. "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
22. "Charli XCX Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
23. "Charli XCX Chart History (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
24. "Top Radio Hits Latvia Monthly Chart: October 2024". TopHit. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
25. "Top Radio Hits Lithuania Monthly Chart: October 2024". TopHit. Retrieved 1 November 2024.