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Back with her third full-length album, Charli XCX has channelled Kim Wilde on Sucker, her latest offering of thirteen pissed off anthems to get your heart racing.

Combining messy, abrasive synths with a 1980’s anthemic gleam and the snotty strut of Britpop, this really does make for quite an exhilarating listen, albeit losing its momentum somewhat towards the album’s second half. Nevertheless, when it hits the mark by throwing a barrage of slick hooks and violent melodies in your direction, all is forgiven, in part because her musical kicks are hard enough to induce memory loss. Tracks such as the feral but uplifting Break Up, or Gold Coins lay testament to that fact by pummelling you into submission with minimalistic guitar lines, decorated with merciless collages of ear-splitting electronica.

There are moments that lag somewhat, when she essentially remakes her own hit singles from the earlier half of the album, i.e. Boom Clap and Break the Rules. However, by in large, Sucker is ripe with ideas that are addictive, modernized versions of songs by the likes of the B-52s, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, or Joy Division, only given the music festival makeover. It is very good pastiche that knows how to present classic pop songwriting without seeming unoriginal. When it succeeds, it can be quite spectacular and you can forgive her for ripping off tracks such as Teenage Dirtbag, or Falling in Love With You, purely because she puts her own distinct stamp on them.

She is, at the end of the day, a gifted thief and this undeniably adds to her image as a badass of pop.