{"id":58149,"date":"2026-02-15T20:11:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/charli-xcx-doechii-troye-sivan-lead-wave-of-pop-star-substack-essays\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T20:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:11:32","slug":"charli-xcx-doechii-troye-sivan-lead-wave-of-pop-star-substack-essays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/charli-xcx-doechii-troye-sivan-lead-wave-of-pop-star-substack-essays\/","title":{"rendered":"Charli XCX, Doechii, Troye Sivan Lead Wave of Pop Star Substack Essays"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tCharli XCX<\/a> has nearly as many opinions about the world as people have about her. It\u2019s what makes her such a smart <\/strong>pop star. She\u2019s always championed the idea that pop should be an artform worth analyzing, dissecting, and even fighting over. This was true in 2014, when she tweeted, \u201cI love people who get angry about pop music,\u201d and raved about loving Becky G\u2019s undeniable pop classic, \u201cShower.\u201d It remains so now, as she satirizes <\/strong>Brat<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in the part-mockumentary, part-concert film, part-psychological thriller The Moment<\/em>.<\/a> But the real <\/strong>proof might be her Substack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnother thing about being a pop star is that you cannot avoid the fact that some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid,\u201d Charli wrote in the sprawling essay, \u201cThe Realities of Being a Pop Star<\/a>.\u201d When she published the entry in November, there were already a few stars using the media platform in a similar way to publish long musings on popularity, pop stardom, pop culture, and, most notably, themselves. Rosal\u00eda joined in September, writing about the purpose of her art<\/a> but also the sadness around her birthday<\/a>. Tegan and Sara have been there since 2022, mostly choosing to share voice notes rather than blocks of text. But Charli\u2019s arrival seemed to mark a shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHer writing engaged pretty directly with conversations pop stars aren\u2019t normally invited to be part of \u2014 and people were paying attention. (She racked up more than 17,000 subscribers within 48 hours.) The current parameters of pop spectatorship and the content mill that drives it online \u2014 with blind items, hate trains, and misinformation \u2014 have made it so that no artist can really control the conversation around them. They\u2019re just meant to provide material for other people to talk about. There are plenty of essays dissecting pop songs and the artists behind them, and there are less thorough interrogations on platforms like X and Reddit, not to mention more speculative content on TikTok. Now, a wave of musicians are hoping to rewrite and re-contextualize their narrative through longform written content.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn the first entry Doechii<\/a> published on Substack, \u201cIf You Were Writing to Black People, You Wouldn\u2019t Have to Edit So Much,\u201d<\/a> she wrote, \u201cI\u2019m tired of speaking to \u2018everyone\u2019 through my music \u2026 I want to talk only to the people who can understand me the first time.\u201d The post underscored how persistently Black women are compelled to over-explain and accommodate for the purpose of accessibility. Doechii can control every facet of the music she releases, but she doesn\u2019t have the same command over who listens to it or how they engage with it. She published her most recent Substack entry, \u201cMy Shower Head Is Racist,\u201d<\/a> in December. \u201cI love the flow of my home, designed for community but not shouting for attention,\u201d she wrote. \u201cNothing here performs. It\u2019s made for dim nights, dancing, drunken guests stumbling into corners to make out, spills, and intimacy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt eased readers into a more complex conversation: In the essay, Doechii analyzed the showerhead in her home and the ones in her hotels, explaining how they\u2019re all disturbing her peace. \u201cBecause immediately, instinctively, I know: no Black woman was taken into account when this technology was designed,\u201d she shared. She used bolds and italics that shift tone in the same way her voice does in her music. \u201cThis is about racism in technology,\u201d she wrote, punctuating the declaration with a definitive: \u201c(IDC IDC IDC!!!)\u201d She can hear the what-about-isms and \u201cwell, actuallys\u201d before they land in her replies. It doesn\u2019t always work against the inevitable comprehension deficit, but doesn\u2019t require five extra paragraphs of overexplaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNaturally, there were still some comments from people who resist thinking critically, but feel entitled to engage, anyway. A few asked why she doesn\u2019t just travel with a detachable shower head to replace the overhead ones as she encounters them. They entirely miss the point, which is that she shouldn\u2019t have to. Another user wondered if the essay was written using AI. Meanwhile, on Charli XCX\u2019s posts, some comments earnestly engaged with her writing, even when they didn\u2019t agree. Others proved her point about people being determined to prove that pop stars are stupid.<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn her most recent entry, \u201cThe Death of Cool<\/a>,\u201d Charli recounted a concert she attended a few years ago. \u201cThe audience watching didn\u2019t feel like they belonged to a community that was unbelievably important to them,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEveryone felt unaffected. Everything felt vague. It was not cool.\u201d This essay came with critical comments, too, and most of those ignored the fact that Charli has been trying to have more thoughtful conversations about pop music, consumption, and celebrity for years online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m currently very into singing songs I didn\u2019t write,\u201d Charli tweeted in 2021. \u201cI just care if the art is good and makes me feel something,\u201d she said<\/a>. Two years later, she predicted on X that pop would be moving towards minimalism<\/a> and earnestly debated<\/a> with a fan about what that might sound like. There\u2019s a certain push and pull that she seems to search for through her output, whether in music or in writing. Without that friction, the already uneven exchange of time and energy between performers and audiences across mediums seems pointless. These kinds of exchanges used to suffice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCharli has 3.8 million followers on X, compared to the 73,400 she boasts on Substack. But the steady deterioration of what used to be Twitter has stunted the conversations on the app. The replies are mostly AI bots, or rage-baiting stan accounts. Most artists don\u2019t bother with it anymore. Others only check in every now and then. Instagram is a fine outlet for visual content, but there\u2019s no real sense of conversation there, either. Substack is filling this space, instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGoing to use this as a mind dump \u2026 not unlike how I used to use tw*tter,\u201d Troye Sivan<\/a> wrote when he launched his Substack in January. His first proper post was about his shower routine. After a shave, the wash order strictly goes: hair first, then face, then body. That he doesn\u2019t have to argue with his showerhead at any point inadvertently emphasizes the confrontation Doechii wrote about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSivan\u2019s second post was an essay originally titled \u201cFuck This Guy,\u201d later renamed \u201cFeeling a Bit Uggo (Ugly).<\/a>\u201d It was an unfiltered response to the cosmetic doctor and content creator Dr Zayn, who made a video comparing Sivan\u2019s current appearance to when he was younger and pointing out his \u201cproblem\u201d areas. The musician didn\u2019t mention this until after he wrote at length about his complicated relationship with his body image, something he\u2019s struggled with privately for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSivan grew up as a popular YouTuber in the 2010s before going all-in on pop stardom. He\u2019s no stranger to being perceived on the internet. \u201cI am body positive to my core and believe that every body is beautiful,\u201d he wrote, crediting his coming-of-age experience via Tumblr in 2012. But it\u2019s only one lens through which he views his body \u201cdepending on the day (or hour) you catch me,\u201d he said. The other is more clinical. He looked into getting fat transferred under his eyes and learned it would run him around $3,000 just for a consultation. He\u2019s also, at 30, the prime age for \u201cbaby botox,\u201d but is unsure how that would look on him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat good is money and modern medicine if not to fix all of these flaws that this random sicko fucko plastic surgeon told me I have in an instagram reel?\u201d Sivan wrote. He changed the original title of the essay after the creator removed the video and reached out to apologize. He\u2019s still thinking about how much he\u2019s always hated his red carpet pictures, and oscillating between embracing his body and making a few tweaks to it. \u201cI\u2019m embarrassed to say, but I can\u2019t make any promises,\u201d he said. \u201cKeep your eyes on my under eyes for updates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSivan\u2019s audience on Substack is small, only around 18,000 followers compared to 7.6 million on X and 16 million on Instagram. Doechii, who documented her coming-of-age experience and creative journey in unfiltered vlogs on YouTube before moving away from the platform, has 38,000 followers compared to 329,000 on X and 5.8 million on Instagram. The platform seems to offer a refuge and a sense of detachment for pop stars, though not complete escape (see: the comment sections). As Charli pushes back on perceptions of pop stardom; Doechii reframes her understanding of the audience she writes for; and Sivan rejects the content-ification of other people\u2019s insecurities, they share a clear intention to dismantle the performance of disinterest and nonchalance expected of artists like them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCan an outlet like Substack help ease some of the pressure artists feel, or at the very least encourage audiences to approach the conversation around pop through a sharper lens? It depends on everyone\u2019s willingness to truly engage. \u201cSometimes I feel like people are trying so hard to sound like writers, with really big words,\u201d Zara Larsson, an outspoken pop star in her own right, recently told I-D<\/em><\/a> <\/em>about the rising pop star presence on Substack. \u201cSome people are amazing. I love Doechii\u2019s. I really like Charli\u2019s too. But some people I\u2019m like\u2026 \u2018It\u2019s okay. Be yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tLarsson doesn\u2019t call out any particular performative pop stars by name, but it tracks that some might have a hard time detaching from the act of performing even when they aren\u2019t on a stage. Substack doesn\u2019t double as a private diary. The writing can be rambling, unedited, and niche, or sharp, pristine, and relatable. Regardless, this longform content works best when it shares a thread of truth. Otherwise, it\u2019s just creating more noise rather than cutting through it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve always been open in interviews about my art,\u201d Charli told A Rabbit\u2019s Foot<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in December. \u201cPeople just haven\u2019t listened\u2026 or I\u2019ve been taken out of context. Writing publicly lets me create the context.\u201d It\u2019s just as Doechii said in her very first Substack post: \u201cI want to say shit once\u2014 and the shit be understood the first time I say it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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