Why is Charli XCX's 'Party 4 U' is TikTok trending again?

Charli XCX had mainstream success with her recent album 'brat' - but an older song from her music catalogue is having another viral moment on TikTok (again).

The track 'party 4 u' has become popular from the singer's 2020 album ''How I'm Feeling Now', and she surprised fans by performing it during her second weekend performance at Coachella.

The song was written back in 2017 for her mixtape 'Pop 2' and it didn't end up on the tracklist, but soon became a fan favourite as Charli would still include it in her live shows, and it was later added to 'How I'm Feeling Now'.

Fans shared their excitement on social media at the British singer performing the song at the musical festival.

"I was screaming at the TV, hope she heard me," one person said.

Another person wrote: "This is for the real Angels…this song shaped us."

"So happy party4u is having the moment it deserves," a third person posted.

Since then, it's become a trending song on Spotify and in a recent TikTok, Charli used the stripped back part of the track in a video where she looked at the camera and next to her, the text read:

"This is actually the moment you realize that one person isn't ever coming to your party so you stand in the middle of the room, tear briefly in your eyes but then you wipe them away, pretend you're ok and proceed to get unbelievably fcked up and then spend the next week feeling completely ashamed of yourself xx."

The video has nearly 4 million views and has inspired other fans to make similar candid-style videos to the tune where people share what the song feels like to them.

"You're all wrong. This song is crying in the club. It's seeing the person you like kiss someone else. It's the Uber home alone," TikToker Tyler (@tylerdevinee ) wrote in a video that now has 2.5 million views.

Meanwhile, TikToker Georgie (@yoitsmegeorgie) said in her video with 1.8 million views: "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."

"This part of the song is the part of the night when you see the one person you went to the function in hopes to see and y'all are staring at one another from other sides of the room with a sea of people between you and y'all both know that even if they party is about to end the night is just starting for you two," TikToker @speakupzayde shared in a video with 560,000 views.

Edits with clips where the love interests from Normal People, Something Great, The Great Gatsby, When Harry Met Sally, La La Land, and more have also gone viral.

But it's not the first time the song has gone viral. Back in February, it started a trend as there is one particular part of the song that everyone can't help but sing along to.

At one point, Charli begins to sing the lyrics at speed: "You could watch me pull up on your body/Like it's summer, take my clothes off in the water/Splash around and get you blessed like holy water/I don't know what you were waiting for/You know that I've been waiting for you."

On TikTok, people are sharing themselves singing the fast-paced second verse of the song or finding clips that perfectly work with that part of the track, and there are over 47,000 videos using the song as a sound for various types of videos such as memes, lyrics and fan edits.

TikToker Josephine (@joh3rnandez) used the song in video of an iPod Nano which played out a part of Ru Paul's Drag Race where drag queen Coco Montese is lipsyncing for her life, word for word (to 'Cold Hearted' by Paula Abdul), with RuPaul and Michelle Visage looking on in awe.

(But it also just so happens to go seamlessly with 'party 4 u' too).

This video has over 2.4 million views, 504,000 likes and was even reposted on Instagram by Charli herself.

Meanwhile, TikToker Aldo (@aldologist) declared she had "been waiting for my coco montrese moment" as she lipsynced along to 'party 4 u' perfectly, and this now has over 2.8 million views.

With the emergence of this trend and there was a new appreciation for the song, and in February it climbed to No.26 on the US Spotify 100 Viral Chart.

At the time, Charli's fans (Angels) expressed their delight at the song being appreciated five years on from its official release.

One person said: "So glad party 4 u is getting her flowers."

"You don't get this song like I get this song," another person wrote.

Someone else added: "I'm gonna walk down the aisle to this song."

"I CANNOT DESCRIBE MY LEVEL OF OBSESSION WITH THIS SONG," a fourth person commented.

The musician has seen all the buzz surrounding her old song, as she took to TikTok on February 14 where she posted a video of herself dancing to her tune, with the simple caption: "exactly!"

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Charli also reacted to her song climbing up the US Spotify Viral 100 chart and she wrote: "It’s p[retty] crazy that this song is suddenly getting love in this kinda way. I know this song means so much to so many angels. she’s a cutie <3"

Elsewhere, Charli XCX’s ‘white powder’ Brat vinyl slammed for 'glamourising' drug use, and Charli XCX's one-word response to Green Day poking fun at her Coachella 'headliner' sash controversy.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.