Charli xcx Adds to Her Lou Reed Shirt Collection

We don’t know when Charli xcx’s next full album is coming, but we do have a good idea about what it might sound like. Even while she was promoting Brat, the musician teased the idea of making an album inspired by Lou Reed. She’s even made a habit of throwing in some Reed-inspired easter eggs into her wardrobe. Although the message of the “Max’s Kansas City” shirt she wore during a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live on October 12 might have confused some, it was immediately clear to anyone as deep into Reed lore as Charli is.

Xcx wore the shirt during her appearance as “Sally” during musical guest Role Model’s performance of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.” Role Model himself wore the Max’s Kansas City shirt when he filmed promo segments for the episode alongside host Amy Poehler and cast member Bowen Yang; it’s no wonder Charli wanted to borrow it.

Max’s Kansas City was a hot spot in Manhattan in the late ’60s and ’70s that connected punk rockers, beat poets, and Andy Warhol’s larger social circle. Debbie Harry worked there as a waitress before she hit it big with Blondie, Bob Marley once opened for Bruce Springsteen at the venue, and Robert Mapplethorpe was there almost nightly for a spell.

Reed was also a regular, and played at Max’s Kansas City often with his band The Velvet Underground. In fact, the last project he ever recorded with the band was a live album titled “Live at Max’s Kansas City.” He quit shortly after it was recorded. The album’s cover isn’t nearly as iconic as the Warhol-painted banana that graced the band’s debut album (in fact, few album covers are), but fans understood the connection.

Charli’s Reed obsession is well-documented, and she especially lets it show when she’s in New York. She wore a Lou Reed shirt before headlining Madison Square Garden last year, wore another one when she performed solo on Saturday Night Live , roamed Coachella in yet another Reed tee, and even showed up to her W cover shoot wearing one.

“I kind of want to make a Lou Reed record, to be honest. That would definitely be a pretty big swing,” she told Billboard in 2024. She also gushed about the artist to Howard Stern, saying Reed is “the greatest artist of all time. I think lyrically he is just… on this other level. Like you said, people probably would never associate me and him together, but his lyrics are so conversational.”

Reed’s band The Velvet Underground, famously managed by Andy Warhol, is considered the godfather of punk and indie rock, though the group didn’t reach mainstream popularity at the time. “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 30,000 copies, but everyone who bought it started a band,” once quipped record producer Brian Eno. Reed’s solo career saw more commercial success (particularly with the single “Walk on the Wild Side”) and his discography spanned glam rock, chamber pop, new wave, meditative ambient music, one infamous noise album, and a collaborative album with Metallica. In other words, he was a bit “cult classic but I still pop.” It’s no wonder he’s Charli’s hero.