Since bursting onto the scene in 2025 with their brash, sassy tackle British pop, XO have felt just like the lady band we’ve been ready a very long time for. The five-piece have the hooks, the angle and, crucially, the chemistry. They’re not interested by enjoying it secure or sanding down their edges. Friendship is every part, exes are expendable, and the women are unapologetically doing it for the women.
Their new mini album, ‘Want To Know’, builds on the promise of debut EP ‘Fashionably Late’, which featured a Charli xcx co-write in ‘Actual Associates’. Bringing collectively focus observe ‘Inform Me How It Feels’, current single ‘Stacey (Take You Greater)’ and songs road-tested through the band’s month-long Colors residency in London this summer season, it finds XO rising into their sound and searching more and more at dwelling on this planet of British pop.
They waste no time making their intentions clear. Opener ‘Hotline’ imagines an recommendation service for the heartbroken, with the immortal announcement: “All our operators are busy being iconic!” It’s humorous, filled with angle and a reasonably good indication of the place XO stand with regards to romantic disappointment. Overlook crying over somebody who doesn’t deserve it; name your folks, get your confidence again and transfer on. There’s a realizing wink to the entire thing, however the tune’s enchantment lies in its dedication to the bit.
‘Clique’, written by Ryan Tedder and Willow Kayne, will get to the guts of what makes XO click on. A celebration of feminine friendship that by no means suggestions into preachiness, it feels private with out shedding its pop immediacy. The accompanying video, filmed within the audition room the place the women first met simply two years in the past, solely provides to the sentiment. There’s a real spark between them, a chemistry that feels unimaginable to pretend and the sense of 5 individuals who need to take this someplace collectively.
That camaraderie will get a deliciously mischievous twist on ‘Stacey (Take You Greater)’. Co-written by pop heavyweight MNEK, the observe turns a story of solidarity and sabotage right into a full-throttle dancefloor rush. The beat hits laborious, the power is infectious and the tongue-in-cheek storytelling offers it character past the manufacturing. It’s XO at their most exhilarating, and it’s simple to listen to why the only has develop into their largest second to this point.
XO – Stacey (Take You Greater) (Official Video)
There’s extra to ‘Want To Know’ than realizing the way to ship a killer refrain, although. ‘Inform Me How It Feels’ switches up the tempo, permitting the women’ hovering vocals to take centre stage. A ballad with an edge, it offers the challenge some welcome emotional weight with out shedding its sense of scale. The performances really feel expansive and heartfelt, constructing in the direction of the form of refrain that appears destined to be screamed again on the band by a sea of voices at gigs, pageant performances and concert events for years to return.
Elsewhere, ‘No Bitter’ raids the Noughties membership playbook for its soiled beat and irresistible melody, however avoids feeling like a nostalgia train. ‘Human Nature’ takes a extra cinematic route, constructing in the direction of a punchy refrain that hints at one other aspect to the group, whereas ‘Paper’ closes issues on a euphoric, hedonistic excessive. It’s the form of finale that makes you need to run the entire thing again.
What offers the report its enchantment is that XO perceive a easy reality about pop: character issues. The hooks are there, the melodies land, however it’s the women’ angle that makes the songs stick. They are often cheeky with out feeling calculated, polished with out shedding their edge, and mawkish with out turning friendship right into a slogan. There’s an actual sense of enjoyable right here, but in addition a gaggle with one thing to show.
That ambition is all of the extra placing provided that XO have been balancing part-time jobs with their pursuit of pop stardom, constructing an impassioned viewers the laborious means via sheer graft, dwell performances and songs that invite listeners into their world. Whether or not followers are drawn to the broader world girl-band renaissance, the promise of a ready-made sisterhood or just the fun of pop that doesn’t faux to be something that it’s not, there’s room for everybody within the XO universe.
And that, finally, is the purpose. The group’s enchantment goes past the person tracks, even when these tracks are as rapid and dance-floor-ready as these. It’s in the best way their voices come collectively, the chemistry they convey to a efficiency and the arrogance with which they champion feminine friendship with out turning it right into a slogan. Their power feels infectious somewhat than manufactured, their angle refreshingly direct. They’ve the type of attract that might encourage the following technology to search out their very own voices, stand by their pals and by no means be afraid to personal who they’re.
‘Want To Know’ doesn’t must reinvent the wheel. It understands the enduring enchantment of an ideal melody, a killer refrain and 5 ladies who genuinely appear to like what they do. Quite than merely wanting again to the golden period of lady bands, XO convey a contemporary perspective to the formulation: self-aware, unapologetic and fuelled by friendship.
If ‘Fashionably Late’ launched XO’s potential, ‘Want To Know’ finds them stepping confidently into their very own. In 2026, Lady Energy has a contemporary angle, a up to date edge and 5 new champions able to take it larger. And XO are simply getting began.
Obtain / stream ‘Want To Know’ right here.
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