{"id":401238,"date":"2022-01-28T19:23:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/charli-xcxs-alone-together-documentary-is-an-immersive-peek-into-creative-life-during-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T19:23:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:23:00","slug":"charli-xcxs-alone-together-documentary-is-an-immersive-peek-into-creative-life-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/charli-xcxs-alone-together-documentary-is-an-immersive-peek-into-creative-life-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"#Charli XCX\u2019s Alone Together documentary is an immersive peek into creative life during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b40823a0b\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40b40823a0b\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/charli-xcxs-alone-together-documentary-is-an-immersive-peek-into-creative-life-during-covid-19\/#What_begins_as_a_making_of_the_album_film_exposes_the_previously_unseen_fears_and_insecurities_behind_Charlis_brash_pop_exterior\" >What begins as a making of the album film exposes the previously unseen fears and insecurities behind Charli\u2019s brash pop exterior.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Charli XCX\u2019s Alone Together documentary is an immersive peek into creative life during COVID-19<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"deck\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_begins_as_a_making_of_the_album_film_exposes_the_previously_unseen_fears_and_insecurities_behind_Charlis_brash_pop_exterior\"><\/span>What begins as a making of the album film exposes the previously unseen fears and insecurities behind Charli\u2019s brash pop exterior. <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"content_blocks\">\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-228560\" class=\"content_block paragraph image triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_220,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 220w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_300,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 300w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 400w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 600w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_750,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 750w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_840,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 840w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_960,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 960w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1260,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 1260w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1800,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 1800w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/charli-xcx-doumentary_islcfd\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review.jpg 2400w,\" sizes=\"60vw\" alt=\"Charli XCX\u2019s &lt;I&gt;Alone Together&lt;\/i&gt; documentary is an immersive peek into creative life during COVID-19\"><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-228561\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>            The idea of revisiting the first COVID quarantine of 2020 might be anathema to most people, but the new Charli XCX documentary <i>Alone Together<\/i> offers the inside track on the creation of <i>how i\u2019m feeling now<\/i>, a deeply personal pop album and a key creative document of the pandemic. <i>Alone Together<\/i> tracks the six week period when Charli holed up in her LA home and made a whole new album from scratch, with little company besides her boyfriend and a pile of freshly purchased recording equipment. What the documentary reveals in its incisive sub-70 minutes is both a nuts-and-bolts look at the making of <i>how i\u2019m feeling now<\/i>, as well as a portrait of an artist for whom creativity and her self-worth are almost inextricable from one another.<\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            In interviews, Charli XCX often talks about her earliest days as a performer when she\u2019d play live at raves in suburban parts of her native England. Nothing out of the ordinary there, except she was only 14 and her dad was waiting in the car to take her home as soon as the set was over. The idea of working when perhaps you shouldn\u2019t be, or at least don\u2019t need to, carries through a decade and a half later as Charli announces to documentary makers Pablo Jones-Soler and Bradley Bell that while the world is in lockdown she\u2019s going to make a new record (most of the v\u00e9rit\u00e9 footage is shot by Charli herself). As an artist, Charli XCX has, at times, felt caught between worlds. She\u2019s either an independent-minded solo creative with songwriting credits on some of the last decade\u2019s biggest singles, or a pop star whose admirable unwillingness to conform has meant she\u2019s never quite crossed over in the way a major label pop star probably should. It\u2019s perhaps this middle ground she occupies that allowed her to convince her label to release an album effectively created in real-time, though the documentary seems less interested in the how of the situation and more the why, forgoing a closer look at the sound of the album and focusing instead on Charli\u2019s mental state during lockdown.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content_block paragraph triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-228559\" class=\"content_block paragraph embed triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"\">\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Charli XCX: Alone Together | Official Trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YV6B3CoP2kM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-228562\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>            Documenting creativity is becoming something of a trend in music documentaries right now, from Peter Jackson\u2019s staggeringly immersive Beatles film <i>Get Back<\/i> to Taylor Swift\u2019s more studied but no less revealing <i>Folklore: the long pond studio sessions<\/i>. <i>Alone Together<\/i> is in tune with this moment. The documentary is at its most exhilarating when it becomes clear that making this album wasn\u2019t just wishful thinking (as so many lockdown projects proved) but an achievable goal. There are clips of Charli going straight from the recording booth to debuting \u201canthems\u201d on IG Live as love hearts and comments from her fans flood the screen. We also see her shooting videos using nothing more than an Amazon-bought green screen that\u2019s more Zoom background than Marvel blockbuster. The idea that Charli XCX is a creative force reigned in by traditional major label structures, \u2013 often put forward by the artist herself \u2013 is only strengthened by the impressive results. <\/p>\n<p>            To its credit, <i>Alone Together<\/i> is not content to be a mere press release for its subject\u2019s brilliance.  The film has its share of uncomfortable moments, including a discussion about Charli\u2019s relationship with boyfriend Huck Kwong, about whom much of <i>how i\u2019m feeling now<\/i> is written. Quarantine pushed the couple together in new and testing ways, chiefly making them spend more time together than ever before. At one point they explain that the longest they had previously spent together uninterrupted was 11 days, despite being together for 7 years. Kwong is supportive but seems uncomfortable on camera and the scene of him being asked to star in a video is hard to watch. \u201cIf the last 28 years have told me anything it\u2019s that I won\u2019t enjoy it,\u201d he says at one point. Charli, with a weary tone, replies \u201cIf you don\u2019t wanna do it just tell me and I\u2019ll think of a new idea.\u201d You get the sense she has to say that a lot in her life. <\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            After setting up the DIY process of making the album, the documentary then goes deeper and dives into what drives Charli and her decision to keep creating through such a trying period. Sitting at a table painting rocks, a hobby she\u2019s picked up in recent months, she explains that her therapist has encouraged her to start journaling as a way of processing her thoughts about feeling unwanted. It\u2019s a thought pattern she\u2019s been told may have been passed down from her father who was adopted as a child. \u201cI\u2019ve got serious issues with the way I handle my work, and the way I rely on work to make me feel like I\u2019m a good person\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m pretty enough, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m smart or interesting or funny enough of a person to function without my work. My work is what makes me different and interesting. Without it I just feel like I\u2019m nothing.\u201d It\u2019s this unfiltered moment that makes <i>Alone Together<\/i> stand out and puts its subject\u2019s entire career into a clearer focus. This kind of honesty gives invaluable insight into the deep-seated fears that drive creativity. In a documentary all about the creative process, that is priceless.  <\/p>\n<p>            The documentary doesn\u2019t quite work as well elsewhere. The inclusion of Charli\u2019s fanbase, the \u201cangels,\u201d illustrates the extremely online nature of <i>how i\u2019m feeling now<\/i> and, between livestreamed dance parties, artwork ideas, and playback sessions, they\u2019re clearly a big part of making the album. Despite this almost utopian vision of fan and artist relationship, there isn\u2019t much sense as to what it is these fans get from the music and why they stan Charli. Coming largely from LGBTQ and other marginalized communities, it feels more like they have found kinship with one another as a chosen family than with Charli\u2019s work specifically. The overall flow of the film isn\u2019t derailed by these scenes, but nor do they feel entirely necessary, either  <\/p>\n<p>            Charli\u2019s decision to document this fraught period of her life is unusually brave. . Who can truly say they would want their time spent between March and May 2020 recorded for posterity, even without the pressures of making an album? <i>Alone Together<\/i> captures this time of uncertainty, adapting to new ways of both living and working efficiently while offering a window into Charli XCX\u2019s psyche and creative spark. It leaves its most telling moment for the end, however. Two days after the release of the album Charli is padding around her kitchen in a hoodie and talking to her manager. \u201cI just feel a bit like\u2026.\u201d she says, pausing for effect. \u201cA bit bored. What am I going to do now?\u201d Everyone laughs but you just know that the next project is coming. How can it not?  <\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            <i>Alone Together is streaming on Hulu and on-demand now. <\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n    <span><br \/>\n      By <span class=\"credit_name\">David Renshaw<\/span><br \/>\n  <\/span><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefader.com\/2022\/01\/28\/charli-xcx-documentary-alone-together-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Charli XCX\u2019s Alone Together documentary is an immersive peek into creative life during COVID-19&#8221; What begins as a making of the album film exposes the previously unseen fears and insecurities behind Charli\u2019s brash pop exterior. The idea of revisiting the first COVID quarantine of 2020 might be anathema to most people, but the new Charli&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/c_limit,w_1024\/c_crop,h_650,w_1200,x_0,y_25,f_auto,q_auto:eco\/charli-xcx-doumentary_fuolhk\/charli-xcx-doumentary_fuolhk.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[28101,91682],"class_list":["post-401238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-pop","tag-charli-xcx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}