Summer 2024 was the golden age of the pop princess. With distinct aesthetics and addictive new albums, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx and Billie Eilish rose to the top of the charts, defining pop stardom in the digital age. These four artist’s latest albums have been nominated — along with four other records — in the Album of the Year category at the 2025 Grammy Awards Feb. 2.
Though their latest albums have made them household names, Roan, Carpenter, Charli xcx and Eilish have been building their brands for years before their big breaks. This playlist rewinds back to 2020 to highlight early hits from some of today’s biggest pop stars.
“Love Me Anyway” by Chappell Roan
Released between Roan’s 2017 EP “School Nights” and her Grammy-nominated 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” the 2020 single “Love Me Anyway” bridges the transition between Roan’s early work and her current sound.
On “Love Me Anyway,” Roan sings with the dark tone and implacably accented vowels of her earlier songs, and her lyrics reference “summer camp” and a “high school dance” in a nod to the younger themes of “School Nights.” But with Roan’s iconic vocal flips, a driving drum beat and prominent electric guitar riff, “Love Me Anyway” could be a track off of “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” Almost.
“I love you because you’re understanding when I’m too shy to show my skin,” Roan sings, showcasing a more vulnerable side of her artistry. “Love Me Anyway” reads as a time capsule of an era before Roan became a renowned LGBTQ+ celebrity with mainstream appeal.
With her latest album, Chappell Roan has developed a campy performance persona — a drag character who has cosplayed as the Statue of Liberty, Joan of Arc and the album’s titular Midwest Princess. Over a years-long journey from queer indie darling to 2024 Coachella headliner, Roan’s fans have loved her through her musical metamorphosis.
“Honeymoon Fades” by Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter released the 2020 single “Honeymoon Fades” on Valentine’s Day, wishing for her new relationship to remain just as strong “after the honeymoon fades.” The track casts Carpenter’s smoky vocals against an intimate backdrop, opening with a soft piano intro and incorporating a light R&B-esque beat on the second verse.
With lyrics penned years before the bold, self-assured songs we witness from Carpenter today, she sings in a more subdued, cautiously optimistic tone.
“I hope we stay the same / I hope that we can love through the pain / After the honeymoon fades,” she sings. “Honeymoon Fades” is a smooth, lyrically tight precursor to Carpenter’s flirty new brand — a coquette aesthetic defined by lipstick stains, sun-soaked saturation, lacy lingerie and baby blue.
This past summer, two hit singles — “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” — ushered in Carpenter’s Grammy-nominated sixth studio album, “Short n’ Sweet.” Similar to Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter overhauled her artistic image in recent years, distancing herself from her Disney Channel past and rocketing to new levels of renown. “Honeymoon Fades” is a moment which captures this in-between, not quite Disney Channel star but not quite 2024 Grammy nominee.
“anthems” by Charli xcx
Released in May 2020, Charli xcx created the album “how i’m feeling now” over the course of five weeks in 2020 to capture her emotional experience during the COVID-19 quarantine. The album’s penultimate track “anthems” captures the emotional zeitgeist of the pandemic lockdown.
“Staring out to oblivion / All my friends are invisible / Twenty-four seven, miss ‘em all / I might cry like a waterfall / I feel afraid when I feel alone,” Charli xcx speak-sings over a crunchy beat with heavy drums and vocal distortion reminiscent of her emotional turbulence.
Her lyrics reference the tedious, grueling hallmarks of life in quarantine. “I just want to go to parties / Up high, wanna feel the heat from all the bodies / I want anthems,” Charli xcx sings. Underscored by an ache for connection, “anthems” screams into a socially distanced void — a feeling deeply evocative of its historical moment.
This summer, four years after the release of this song, Charli xcx took the internet by storm this summer with her June 2024 album “Brat,” a masterclass in marketing for the TikTok generation. The Grammy-nominated album’s trademark electric green color, blurry block font and associated “brat summer” internet trend elevated the British artist to a new stratosphere of fame since her debut “You’re the One EP” in 2012.
“my future” by Billie Eilish
In 2020, Billie Eilish released the single “my future,” which made her 2021 sophomore album “Happier Than Ever.” The track sees Eilish embrace being single and falling in love with her future self.
The song starts out soft and ethereal, then settles into a laid-back rhythm after the beat drop. “I’m in love / But not with anybody else / Just wanna get to know myself,” Eilish sings. Her dreamy vocals float above guitar plucks, echoing background vocals and a steady drum kit beat.
“I’ll see you in a couple years,” she riffs as the song fades out. Five years into her future, Eilish has cemented her legacy as a versatile artist unafraid to experiment with genre and style — and she has picked up a few Grammys along the way.
Since her teenage debut with singles “Six Feet Under” and “Ocean Eyes,” Billie Eilish has reinvented her style and layered her signature whisper-singing over various musical genres, from jazz to pop. Eilish, who collaborates with her brother and producer FINNEAS, has made a name for herself with three successful studio albums and soundtrack features on blockbusters like “Barbie” and the 2021 James Bond film “No Time to Die.”
Eilish’s 2024 album “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” is up against “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” “Short n’ Sweet,” “Brat” and four more records for Album of the Year. With the 2025 Grammy Awards fast approaching, take some time to rewind and remind yourself that hidden gems hide in the early discographies of today’s pop stars.
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