"I Love It" by Icona Pop and Charli XCX // Record Store Day Black Friday 12" glow in the dark vinyl + song review
Happy Record Store Day! To celebrate the semi-annual independent record store event, Icona Pop released a special limited edition glow-in-the-dark vinyl pressing of their iconic breakthrough hit, "I Love It". Originally released in 2012 as the lead single from their self-titled debut album, the track quickly became a defining anthem for the Swedish pop duo. Not only did it launch their career, but it also marked the first major hit for Charli XCX, who at the time was just 21 years old and an emerging songwriter carving her place in pop music.
Charli had signed with Asylum Records in 2010 while still in school, spending her early years experimenting with different sounds and resisting the idea of mainstream pop, which didn't initially align with her vision as an artist. Her breakthrough came when she began collaborating with producer Patrik Berger, who was then best known for his work with Lana Del Rey and Robyn, and later worked with artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Taylor Swift, and Bleachers. Their creative partnership proved pivotal for her early career, eventually helping shape a major part of her 2014 album Sucker.
Among their earliest sessions together, they ended up writing "I Love It". Patrik sent Charli two beats for Charli to write over, and one of them became the foundation for this track. She wrote it very quickly, but from the start, she knew it wasn't meant for her to sing. "I knew that I wasn't going to sing it," she explained in a 2013 interview with BBC. Instead, she passed the song to Icona Pop, who immediately connected with its rebellious message. Member Aino Jawo recalled that the lyric "You're from the '70s but I’m a '90s bitch" was the line that made them fall in love with the song.
Wanting to push the track further toward a punk-inspired sound, they brought in producer Style of Eye to add more grit and edge to the final production. They ended up keeping Charli's vocals from the demo on the track in the official release, which gave the song the distinctive impact and preserved the indelible artistic imprint that remains at the heart of the song all these years later.
"I got this feelin' on the summer day when you were gone," they sing in the iconic opening lines. "I crashed my car into the bridge, I watched, I let it burn, I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs, I crashed my car into the bridge, I don't care, I love it".
It became a massive global hit, reaching the top 10 in 18 countries and becoming their first UK number one in Charli's home country. "It was really surreal to have a UK number one, especially when no-one really knows who you are," she reflected in her 2013 interview with BBC.
The success of "I Love It" marked Charli's arrival as a prolific pop songwriter, not only for her own music, but for countless other artists whose careers she helped shape with some of the biggest hits of the past decade. Since its release in 2012, the track has been featured in countless movies and TV shows, becoming synonymous with the early 2010s house-club sound that defined the era of music.
If anything, the song further proves how ahead of her time Charli has always been as an unconventional pop star and voice in music. Its bratty, unapologetic energy set the tone for the boundary-pushing pop songwriting that she would go on to explore deeper throughout her career.
The legacy of "I Love It" continues to thrive more than a decade later. Ranked among the best songs of the 2010s by Stereogum at #117 and Pitchfork at #197, the track has surpassed 1 billion streams and remains a staple in Charli's live shows, a fitting celebration of the moment her journey as an artist truly began.
This song received a special vinyl release for Record Store Day Black Friday. Pressed on glow-in-the-dark green 12" vinyl. It's definitely a really cool collector's item to have in my collection. It was limited to only 4,400 copies worldwide, so I was lucky to be able to find a copy of this at one of my local record stores.
I already own a few glow‑in‑the‑dark pressings, but this one stands out for how perfectly it captures the energy and vibe of "I Love It". Even better, the sound quality is great, as well which is something that can be hit or miss with novelty pressings.
The release features ten different versions of "I Love It", from the original track to a wide range of remixes that reimagine the song in new ways. Artists like Tiësto, Cobra Starship, and many more contributed their own twists to the track, making this pressing a celebration of the song's enduring impact.
Thanks for reading! I have written about Charli XCX's music many times over the years, along with past Record Store Day releases, all of which are linked here and below. Many more are coming soon, always! Be sure to support your local independent record stores!
All photos are my own!
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