After viral hits like “Pretty Girls,” “Bags,” and her 2021 sophomore record Sling, Clairo has proven herself to be one of indie rock’s most captivating troubadours. Fittingly, she examines the idea of charisma from a 360-degree view on Charm, her third full-length (and first self-released) album. Harnessing the warbling production and nostalgic power of songwriters like Harry Nilsson, the 25-year-old’s confessional lyricism looks a little different this go-around.
Each song on the track list is informed by the concept of “charm” — which she had tattooed across her knuckles — though no track approaches it from as unexpected of a place as the groovy kiss-off tune “Add Up My Love.”
The ‘70s-inspired and piano-dominated track plays like a Fleetwood Mac-esque confrontation after a breakup. “Add up my love / Honey, was it enough? Is it ever enough,” its chorus asks. Nevertheless, the “Sexy to Someone” singer clarifies early on that it’s a conversation that only happens in your head — or in this case, a song. The premise is set in the first verse: “If I could wait for a time to be sad about it / I’d choose a day when you’ve gone away / And I’m all alone upstate.”
While her previous works were informed by slugging it in the city, “Add Up My Love” (and the majority of Charm) was influenced by a recent move to upstate New York. In the isolated setting, Clairo told the New Yorker she gained a newfound appreciation for solitude. “It’s the loneliest thing ever,” she said. “I do find it very cool that I’m doing it, though. I want to be self-reliant. I think it’s valuable when someone can bring that into a relationship.”
Elsewhere in “Add Up My Love,” lyrics touch on memories from a relationship: “Hands hangin’ on the back of your neck,” “My name, said it between your breath,” and a laugh heard “from the back of the room.” The moments feel visceral and remembered, but as the singer revealed, they’re partially imagined for the album’s “charm” theme. Through adhering to the record’s “concept,” Clairo wrote songs feeling like she “only had part of the information, and then a lot of yearning.”
Nevertheless, fleeting moments and resounding question marks turned out to be a fitting metaphor for “dating in your 20s.” As she told the New Yorker, “There’s this cyclical energy that you’re constantly pumping out and experiencing through each person you date, whether it’s a four-month casual thing or, like a two-day love story. It completely takes over.”
