Claws

"Claws" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by English singer-songwriter Charli XCX. It was released as the second single from her fourth studio album, How I'm Feeling Now, on 23 April 2020. Like the previous single, "Forever", the song has three official cover artworks, designed by Timothy Luke, Naked Cherry and Sara Cwynar. "Claws" was named one of the best songs of 2020 by NME and Rolling Stone. Background On 10 April 2020, Charli XCX posted a series of clips from upcoming songs on Twitter, asking her fans which one they liked best. On 13 April 2020, she announced that "Claws" would be the next single, though she was considering calling it "I Like" instead. The following day she confirmed that "Claws" would be the official title of the song. Composition Produced by Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, "Claws" is an electropop, glitch pop, and hyperpop song with elements of hip hop, electronica, pop and trance. It is about love in the time of self-isolation, inspired by her boyfriend whom she was quarantined with in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. About the song's production, Alex Robert Ross of The Fader said "it sounds like getting sucked into a modem and spat back out in a brightly colored cartoon". Critical reception Emily Tan from Spin described the beginning of the song as an "autotuned robotic snippet" that "transitions into a mid-tempo bounce" as "Charli explains how much she likes someone". Michael Love Michael of Paper wrote that the song "instantly sinks its claws into you and [won't] let go", and felt that "[people will] like everything about it". In a different article for the same publication, Matt Moen described the song as a "puppy dog-eyed bop about lovestruck infatuation" laid over "top of blown-out trap drums and caustic synths before descending into a euphoric trance break that comes in as the icing on the cake". Moen also talked about the "jittery effects" and "mindless repetition" that was "Stylistically more in line with the futuristic sound [on] Charli" as the track "reasserts her dominance as being one of pop's foremost innovators". Writing for DIY, Lisa Wright described the song as a "kitschy electro-pop nugget that draws heavily on her PC Music affiliation", that was "Full of video game-like twinkles and saccharine sweet lyrics", ultimately giving the feeling of being "trapped inside Candy Crush with only a couple of pills and some high-sheen production to save you".