Not every 16-year-olds claim Grace Jones, Isadora Duncan, and Toots and the Maytals as influences  on their MySpace – then again, Charli XCX is not your average teenager. This young Londoner is about to explode – she’s the next La Roux, the new M.I.A., and a serious contender for taking over Lily Allen’s day job. Yes, another brilliant Brit chick mangling banging club grooves and a witty lyrical persona into her own exciting image.

!Franchesckaar! Preview:

Charli XCX has a big voice and bigger beats: she clearly loves electro of all stripes, and her natural exuberance and eccentricity get her over. While she’s signed to a major label (Atlantic), don’t expect her to pull a Miley Cyrus and go commercial – this is a girl who wrote a love ode to Darth Vader, after all (“I Wanna Be Darth Vader”). Nope, Ms. XCX is too strange, individual and over the top for that – she’s probably going to be that big, but on her own funky terms. Her first single “!Franchesckaar!” was a big howling beast of synths and sassy commands; the latest track on her MySpace,“Do It Well,” proves irreverent and strange and irresistible – kinda like a combination of Kylie Minogue’s pop tartness, Mike Skinner’s storytelling smarts, and Janelle Monae’s futuristic freak scene. It’s a combo that shouldn’t work but does. So meet the latest superstar-in-training from the U.K. – with her debut album projected to feature production from the likes of Alex Metric and a raucous live show that’s drawing buzz from tastemakers, expect Charli XCX to be top o’ the pops in no time.