Charli XCX Releases Long-Awaited “Party 4 U” Video for 5-Year Anniversary of How I’m Feeling Now
Five years after the release of her critically acclaimed quarantine album How I’m Feeling Now, Charli XCX has gifted fans with the long-awaited official music video for “Party 4 U,” one of the album’s most cherished tracks.
Directed by Mitch Ryan, the video debuted on May 16 — the exact anniversary of the 2020 release — and serves as both a nostalgic callback and a cinematic visual statement. Set in the eerie aftermath of a party, the video follows Charli as she wanders through a lonely, trashed house, eventually confronting and destroying a billboard version of herself in a symbolic act of self-reckoning.
“Party 4 U” is one of Charli’s more intimate songs, a slow-burning confession about throwing a party in the hope one specific person would attend — only to be let down. The track resonates deeply with fans, many of whom participated in the creation of How I’m Feeling Now, a groundbreaking project that was conceived, produced, and released in just five weeks during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — all in public collaboration with her online community, whom she affectionately calls “angels.”
In a handwritten note posted on Instagram the day before the video’s release, Charli reflected:
“It was all of us at our most raw, our most stripped, our most vulnerable… I will never forget it. And I really can’t believe that five years later, one of the angel favorites is having its own special moment.”
She continued:
“So obviously I wanted to do something to celebrate… this one’s for you, angels.”
The video also nods to Charli’s personal growth and transformation over the past five years, both musically and personally, marking this release as a full-circle moment.
Watch the official “Party 4 U” video above and revisit How I’m Feeling Now — an album that redefined pop during one of the world’s most uncertain times.