Charli XCX, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

Charli XCX is everything that’s great about pop. Bounding around the stage at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in impossibly high platform shoes, she’s whipping her hair, punching the air – even rocking an inflatable air guitar - with the best of them. Before she, or her sequin-clad angel-winged band, have even touched the stage; while the curtain – adorned with flipped middle finger – still covers the Teen Angel-meets-Freaky Friday set – we’re reminded she’s chucked away more hooks than most songwriters dream of, as her and Iggy Azalea’s 2014 mega-hit ‘Fancy’ finds itself relegated to the pre-show playlist.

Whether thanks to the constantly moving UK release of latest album, ‘Sucker’, or the past month spent warming up arenas for Katy Perry across Europe, there’s an added grit to Charli tonight – and it suits her. It ups the ante on her already impeccable bubbegum punk – ‘Breaking Up’, ‘London Queen’ and ‘Sucker’, three of the heavier numbers on the record, exude more attitude than even their recorded selves, while ‘Body of My Own’ ditches the candyfloss for pure intent. So much stronger are they that the handful of ‘True Romance’ numbers on show – with perhaps the exception of ‘You (Ha Ha Ha)’ - pale comparatively in both sound and reception.

“Is anyone here drunk,” she asks, while sipping from her own plastic pint glass between songs, “is anyone here underage and drunk?” she laughs. Charli’s (fire)brand of pop isn’t airbrushed, polished or preened – and that’s precisely why it’s so brilliant. Mixing sounds from 80s new wavers, 90s girl power and 00s club bangers for the selfie generation – Charli XCX proves tonight why she’s the perfect pop star for the 21st Century.