Charli XCX was arguably the hottest pop star of the year in 2024 thanks to her culture-shifting club music album Brat. What many may not know is that she is engaged to an equally talented musician in The 1975’s George Daniel, forming what could very well be the coolest celebrity couple in the music industry.
Charli and George met in 2019 while attending the British GQ Awards, and by 2020 they had become pretty chummy online but had rarely hung out. When they crossed paths again at that year’s NME Awards where they were sat at opposite tables, the “Apple” singer couldn’t stop staring, and neither could her would-be fiancé. That’s how her track “Talk Talk” from Brat was conceived, where she sings about the tension between the two as they both tried to find the courage to go and speak to one another.
“I’ve been lookin’ at you / Puttin’ holes in your head / We’ve been talking for months / But never in the same room / And now I wanna approach ya / But we’ve been keeping this a secret / And you’re surrounded by friends / And I’m just wondering what they know.”
As for the part where Charli sings about nearly following The 1975 drummer into the bathroom, that was also inspired by real events. “I saw that he went to the bathroom, so I was like, oh, I’ll go to the bathroom, and maybe we’ll bump into each other, and then we won’t be like texting all the time,” she said in a TikTok interview. “But then I got halfway there, and I was like, this is insane, and then I went and sat down again.”
Thankfully, they both got over the initial awkward and soon began making music together with George contributing significantly to Charli’s 2022 album Crash, followed by Brat and several other singles. In May of that year, they made their relationship Instagram official and by November of 2023, the drummer and producer had popped the million-dollar question. “Charli XCX and George Daniel f–king for life!!!,” the 32-year-old captioned the since-deleted social media announcement.
As for the wedding ceremony, Charli told Howard Stern the lovebirds are less concerned about the formalities of it all and more focused on just having a proper party with friends and family, like the true EDM enthusiasts they both are.
Who is George Daniel?
On top of being the band’s very talented drummer, George is incredibly involved in producing The 1975’s music and is often credited alongside lead singer Matty Healy as the songwriter for most of their discography.
George, who was born in Belgium, but grew up in Seattle before moving to England as a teen, met the rest of The 1975 boys, then called Drive Like I Do, in 2002 at Wilmslow High School in Cheshire (near Manchester). He replaced Healy as the drummer when he was bumped up to lead singer following the original vocalist’s exit from the band.
The foursome, which is rounded out by bass guitarist Ross MacDonald and guitarist Adam Hahn, have been playing music together ever since, but have recently branched out into individual projects. Besides producing music for other artists like Charli, The Japanese House, beabadoobee, and No Rome, George also released his own label in 2024 — dh2, a dance-focused imprint of The 1975’s loyal home of over ten years, Dirty Hit. The drummer, who has a degree in production and electronic music from a Manchester college, had been DJing for a while when he decided to officially venture off into the sweaty, high-octane world of clubbing.
Speaking about working with her partner in love and music, Charli said “I’ve never been with someone as super creative as [him]. (…) He inspires me daily.” Now that is a power couple.
Published: Oct 8, 2024 08:23 am