{"id":1874326,"date":"2026-04-09T16:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1874326"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:46:30","slug":"hit-albums-make-you-famous-scrapped-albums-make-you-iconic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1874326","title":{"rendered":"Hit Albums Make You Famous. Scrapped Albums Make You Iconic."},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"oVA page-457845985\">.page-457845985{&#8211;slot7:#f6f6f6;&#8211;slot8:#000000;&#8211;slot9:#f6f6f6;&#8211;metaColor:#f6f6f6;&#8211;navColor:#f6f6f6}<\/p>\n<div class=\"cCV\">\n<div class=\"sWr\">\n<div class=\"Jr2\">\n<div class=\"gsz CfR\">\n<div class=\"d0B\">\n<div class=\"vmZ oL7\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/4\/6\/4d047587\/scrappedalbums.jpg?w=414&amp;h=259&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=focalpoint&amp;fp-x=0.4937&amp;fp-y=0.4801&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"fpC EdX\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"Vms lOB\">Photos: Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"_-P\">\n<div class=\"rkd qoI\">\n<p class=\"QwJ\">Music<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ckc ZKF\">\n<h1 class=\"aVX doc lqb QZE\">Hit Albums Make You Famous. Scrapped Albums Make You Iconic.<\/h1>\n<div class=\"r87 y0Q\">\n<p>A musician\u2019s worst nightmare, fans\u2019 biggest joy \u2014 why is unreleased music more iconic than what gets released?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mLI Q9a\">\n<address class=\"Fdy\">by <span>Halima Jibril<\/span><\/address>\n<div class=\"DHw\">\n<div><time datetime=\"2026-04-09T16:46:30.812Z\">just now<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"QVH\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"Uf-\">\n<div class=\"Yte yjy wVh\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/the-music-issue-2026\" class=\"JVd\">The Music Issue 2026<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tn6\">\n<div data-adroot=\"true\" class=\"AOL Afg\">\n<p>On her hit YouTube show, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oZ6WuIvsljI&amp;t=2463s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\"><em>Feeding Starving Celebrities<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/nylon-nights\/quenlin-blackwell-coach-grwm-nyfw-fw26\" class=\"T3D\">Quenlin Blackwell<\/a> asked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/entertainment\/charli-xcx-poppi-super-bowl-2026-interview\" class=\"T3D\">Charli xcx<\/a> a question many of us have been wondering for years: \u201cMy gay writers threatened my life if I didn\u2019t ask you if you would ever formally release your scrapped album <em>XCX World<\/em>?\u201d Charli responded coyly: \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking of maybe\u2026 doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since that episode dropped in late February, the internet has been alight with anticipation. <em>XCX World<\/em> \u2014 not its official name, but a working title bestowed  by her fans \u2014 would have been Charli\u2019s third studio album. Recorded roughly between 2015\u20132017 and co-produced by Stargate and the late Sophie, the album was shelved after a significant amount of the songs leaked, including what have become some of Charli\u2019s most fan-revered tracks: \u201cAfter the Afterparty\u201d, \u201cNo Angel,\u201d \u201cGirls Night Out,\u201d \u201cBounce,\u201d and more.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width:854px\" class=\"sWr iGR vrU\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"bwd\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The material occupies a conflicted place within fans\u2019 hearts, to say nothing of Charli\u2019s \u2014 she once teared up on stage while explaining <a href=\"https:\/\/uproxx.com\/pop\/charli-xcx-teared-up-play-song-sophie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">how requests for the <em>XCX World<\/em>-era track \u201cTaxi\u201d upset her<\/a>. Some fans are desperate for <em>XCX World<\/em> to be on streaming services, where the leaked songs they\u2019re already listening to can at least be monetized and widely accessed. Others want it to stay firmly and safely within the fandom. \u201cThe lore around XCX World is lowkey part of her identity as an artist now, it should stay unreleased,\u201d one of Charli\u2019s fans, collectively known as \u201cAngels,\u201d wrote on<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/siegfriedkjs\/status\/2025934325930148032?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\"> X<\/a>. \u201cThe \u2018lore\u2019 can\u2019t be more important than the music,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WaveGod757\/status\/2025976422439813338?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\"> argued<\/a> another. Now, Charli\u2019s apparent willingness to revisit one of her near-mythical works has brought the spotlight back on an age-old question: What is it about unreleased music that drives fans so crazy?<\/p>\n<p>For some, there\u2019s the simple thrill that comes with discovering your favorite artist\u2019s catalog runs deeper than you thought. \u201cI was so excited when I realised there was a whole vault of unreleased tracks to find, after making my way through Charli\u2019s discography an unhealthy number of times,\u201d a Charli superfan named Tiarna tells NYLON. \u201cSome were scrapped demos for other artists, others distorted recordings from live shows, and some of the music probably wasn\u2019t even sung by Charli.\u201d When you follow an artist for this long, you develop a certain intimacy with their work \u2014 so much so that Tiarna says they\u2019ve been able to recognize when scrapped tracks are incorporated into new releases, reworked, or finally officially released \u2014 like the once-cult-favorite demo turned TikTok  hit \u201cparty 4 u.\u201d \u201cOne\u2019s relationship to leaked music can feel morally complicated,\u201d they say, \u201cbut it also makes you feel closer to them because not many people have heard it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:95.2381%\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/4\/7\/97192526\/scrappedalbums_insert2.jpg?w=414&amp;h=394&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"EdX\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The way leaks grant admission into a more exclusive club of fandom is what motivated 26-year-old Nour to hunt down unreleased <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/entertainment\/omar-apollo-god-say-no-interview-tour\" class=\"T3D\">Omar Apollo<\/a> songs that were sneakily uploaded to Spotify through the podcast section. \u201cIt had nothing to do with his music and everything to do with horniness,\u201d they explain. \u201cI fancied him so much that his unreleased music didn\u2019t particularly have any artistic merit to me. [But] finding the music and knowing the lyrics made me feel like I was in the 1% of his fans. It\u2019s very akin to being on the 1% of someone\u2019s Spotify listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:95.2381%\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/4\/7\/63f3216b\/scrappedalbums_insert1.jpg?w=414&amp;h=394&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"EdX\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>That\u2019s not to say the lore and the drama don\u2019t enhance the listening experience sometimes. Look at Jai Paul\u2019s <em>Leak 04-13 <\/em>(<em>Bait Ones)<\/em>: In 2013, the album \u2014 often considered one of the best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelineofbestfit.com\/reviews\/albums\/jai-paul-leak-04-13-bait-ones-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">pop albums of the 21st century<\/a> \u2014 was leaked and illegally sold on Bandcamp, leading the Indian-British musician to retreat from public life. (Though it later got a proper release by XL Recordings in 2019.) \u201cEven if it wasn\u2019t leaked early, the album would have been a success because the music is so unique and memorable,\u201d says music writer Solomon Pace-McCarrick. \u201cBut through its leak, it added an extra mystique. It makes you wonder, \u2018What would this album have been, if it was fully completed?\u2019\u201d Pace-McCarrick says. That\u2019s also the case with <em>XCX World<\/em>: Coming off the heels of Charli\u2019s groundbreaking <em>Vroom Vroom<\/em> EP, but before hyperpop reached its current mainstream heights, it represented a fresh take on pop\u2019s future \u2014 and today feels like a glimpse into an alternate timeline..<\/p>\n<p>When an artist releases music alongside its visuals, we are presented with their fully realized vision. As fans, we can interpret that however we desire \u2014 but what you see is what you get. When a song or album is leaked and unfinished, however, we\u2019re able to selfishly project our own fantasies onto it.<\/p>\n<p>26-year-old Rashid prefers the leaked version of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/playboicarti\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">PlayBoi Carti\u2019<\/a>s second studio album, Whole Lotta Red, which was officially released in 2020, for this exact reason. The official release took a more punk direction, excluding fan favourites \u201cMolly,\u201d \u201cCancun,\u201d \u201cKid Cudi,\u201d and \u201cRed on Red,\u201d and featuring only two tracks from the leaked trove. Rashid didn\u2019t realize just how attached they were to the leaked version until the official album was released. \u201cI think it had a lot to do with the version of PlayBoi Carti that I created in my head,\u201d they confess. \u201cI kept thinking of what could have been if that was the music that had been dropped, versus the reality of who he became musically.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:95.2381%\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/4\/7\/33ad0a8c\/scrappedalbums_insert3.jpg?w=414&amp;h=394&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"EdX\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Like PlayBoi Carti fans, Swifties are similarly notorious for lore-building around Taylor Swift\u2019s unreleased projects. In 2016, Swift\u2019s sixth studio album, <em>Karma<\/em>, was reportedly scrapped after Kim Kardashian leaked a phone call between Swift and Kanye West, in which the then-38-year-old rapper asked Swift\u2019s permission to use her name in his song \u201cFamous\u201d from his 2016 album, <em>The Life of Pablo. <\/em>While she agreed to have her name mentioned, West never told Swift he would call her a \u201cbitch\u201d on the song \u2014 and the media frenzy around their feud intensified. Around this time, according to fanpages, Swift went into hiding and her alleged album was killed. That is, until 2019, when previously unheard tracks were leaked and fans were reignited with hope that the rumored record, with themes of revenge, anger, and sexual desire, would be officially released any day.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2016, <em>Karma<\/em>\u2019s existence has been a hot topic within the Taylor Swift fandom. Swifties have penned literal essays and made video deep dives on <em>Karma<\/em> \u2014 but Internet Commentator and Swiftie, Zachary Hourihane, also known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@theswiftologist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">Swiftologist<\/a>, believes that the supposed album is \u201cutter nonsense\u201d and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qYxmp0yUWug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">leaked tracks were never part of a cohesive project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sWr iGR CEt\">\n<figure class=\"Qf5 E1M\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:95.2381%\" class=\"vmZ F8Y ap2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/4\/9\/f91f0e2a\/scrappedalbums_insert4.jpg?w=414&amp;h=394&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"EdX\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Then why so much fan speculation about this non-news? Well, because Swift stirs it up. Swiftologist argues that fans don\u2019t just randomly latch onto unreleased projects, but artists who actively incite this behavior. \u201cWith easter egging and deliberate red herrings, [Taylor] has encouraged a certain level of excavation into her basic motivations as an artist,\u201d Hourihane argues. \u201cCombined with the Taylor\u2019s Version project, where she\u2019s essentially revealed to us there\u2019s a plethora of good, juicy, revealing unreleased material sitting around waiting for a chance to shine, makes Swifties feel like there is always an ace up her sleeve.\u201d This mythology Swift has created around herself makes fans feel like they must always be prepared for whatever she may (or may not) release next.<\/p>\n<p>For fans, leaked albums and songs are a sort of wonderland. Getting there often requires more effort, but that involvement is part of the appeal: In an era where music is more accessible than ever, it\u2019s the albums we can\u2019t fully access that seem to linger the longest.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"fX2 rhF jIS\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"lqj TnP\">\n<div class=\"BMP\">\n<div class=\"oHL\">Style + Culture, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/div>\n<div class=\"wCn\">\n<div class=\"Yte yjy DSW\"><\/div>\n<p><button class=\"Ex8 qgj\"><span>Submit<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"uxm\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"g-0\">By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdg.com\/info\/terms-of-service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bdg.com\/info\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Privacy Policy<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/newsletter\">Subscribe to our newsletter &gt;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>.page-457845985{&#8211;slot7:#f6f6f6;&#8211;slot8:#000000;&#8211;slot9:#f6f6f6;&#8211;metaColor:#f6f6f6;&#8211;navColor:#f6f6f6} Photos: Getty Images Music Hit Albums Make You Famous. Scrapped Albums Make You Iconic. A musician\u2019s worst nightmare, fans\u2019 biggest joy \u2014 why is unreleased music more iconic than what gets released? by Halima Jibril just now The Music Issue 2026 On her hit YouTube show, Feeding Starving Celebrities, Quenlin Blackwell asked Charli xcx [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,256],"class_list":["post-1874326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nylon-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1874326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1874326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1874326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1874326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}