The xx co-founder is discovering new avenues of artistic expression by celebrating her identity and redefining club culture in city after city.

Romy Madley Croft carved out her own genre of indie rock alongside bandmates Jamie xx and Oliver Sim in the early 2000s. Nearly 20 years later, with her solo debut Mid Air, she’s discovering new avenues of artistic expression by celebrating her identity and redefining club culture in city after city.

Just a few months later, however, she hit on the song that felt right: “Loveher,” becoming the infectious opener to Romy’s debut album, Mid Air. Starting downtempo, the song teasingly builds into a soaring dance track and declaration of love,&nbsp;written for Romy’s wife, photographer and director Vic Letaigne. While The xx’s lyrics use mostly genderless pronouns, “Loveher” is an open declaration of same-sex love, part of the reason Romy knew only she could sing it. Which other artist was making dance music from the perspective of a woman singing about another woman? 

If she could fill clubs with the track, she’d be doing something new, breaking from a history of what she jokingly calls “sad lesbian ballads.” With the help of her co-producer, Fred Again, came a sound that perfectly treads the line between contemporary and nostalgic. “Emotional music to dance to,” as Romy dubs it. “Fred has an open-mindedness that never made me feel embarrassed to lean into big pop references.” 

“Loveher” sets the tone for the album, charting the roller-coaster emotions of falling for someone, the sorrows of romance and the escape found on a dancefloor. “I wanted to write emotional songs that tugged at your heartstrings, but then you could feel upbeat and still dance to them—trying to bottle that feeling is something I've been obsessed with.” The album weaves through painful experiences like unrequited love, and the grief Romy experienced after the loss of her parents. Yet beyond heavy subject matter, a sense of euphoria is never far away, almost like a reminder of better days ahead. 

With its trance influences and unapologetic queerness, Mid Air might have come as a surprise to fans of The xx, known for their brooding indie electronica. (Although fans of The xx need not worry, as Romy mentions that the band have begun to work on a new studio album together, release date pending.) “In the beginning, people were quite surprised at what I was doing away from the band, and the more surprised they were, the more it felt right to lean into that.” 

For a sound that feels nostalgic but not retro, Romy took influence from her friend, Swedish pop doyenne Robyn, and listened to the iconic gay anthem “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat on repeat. She also pictured the clubs where she DJ’d as a teenager, like Ghetto, a grimy basement in Soho, where she would drop throwback pop and club anthems that the crowd knew the words to. “I realized I had a whole world and community that I wanted to celebrate in terms of queer clubbing.” Mid Air is their homage.

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Much of the writing process took place during the pandemic, a time when people worldwide collectively longed for the reopening of closed clubs. “There was a question mark over whether you would be able to be together again, and have the kind of emotional magic that comes from being all together in a club environment,” reflects Romy. “Fred’s song “Marea (we’ve lost dancing)” with The Blessed Madonna was written around the same time we were making Mid Air. I can feel the joy of dancing being back when I hear him play that song at a big festival or in a club. People go mad for it. It’s the same when we play “Lifetime,” a song we made together and released during the pandemic.” 

Knowing how much she and others missed collective spaces, Romy named her recent tour Club Mid Air, treating each gig like a club night. One challenge was figuring out how to DJ and sing live at the same time. At festivals like Glastonbury, she trialed a DJ set that mixed out live electronics and vocals. “You build the crowd's energy up through DJing, then once they're more open and relaxed, you bring in the live element.” 

Now at Club Mid Air, the set is completely live so Romy can focus on the relationship with the crowd. Club Mid Air is not only a nod to club culture but to a traveling community. “I particularly want to take care of and create environments for queer women to feel safe and to have their space,” she says, reflecting on how a lot of queer clubs still cater to shirtless cis gay men. At one Club Mid Air show, a fan proposed to her girlfriend.

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For each date on the tour, Romy curates DJs and artists to play alongside her, based on hours of YouTube research, and usually from local queer scenes. It often starts with a DM. “I'm quite a shy person, so I have to galvanize a bit, but then everyone's been so lovely.” Lil Clart, upcoming DJ and producer I. Jordan, and Kiddy Smile are just some of the names who have been invited into the fold. “In the past, I had songs I'd listen to as I got ready, but with this tour, I walk out in the middle of the crowd and listen to the DJs.” 

From London to Seoul, she’s noticed a trend of eclecticness: a lot of pop edits and reimaginings of big anthemic songs. “I've been around more serious dance music scenes, going to stuff with Jamie [from The xx], for example. But I love playfulness and an appreciation of joyful pop done in a clever way.” 

In a climate where nightlife in cities is increasingly under threat from gentrification or licensing issues, IRL spaces of connectivity are important—but so are virtual spaces, muses Romy. Her recent Boiler Room set with London queer scene stalwarts Michelle Manetti and MSG served as a reminder. “There's nothing like the serendipity of being in a club and the chance encounters you might have. But there’s also something exciting about sets you can access online from anywhere, turn up loud at home and imagine yourself in.” The metaverse may well take things to the next level. “I did a DJ set for Pabllo Vittar's Halloween party where you could explore different rooms and they animated me into a sort of Sim character. I had giant bat wings on.”

Ultimately, the future of technology’s collision with pop music excites rather than scares her. “I feel like whenever someone talks about AI and creativity, there's a fearful reaction, but I'm interested to see what can be done.” The same goes for TikTok: “I'm fascinated by how you could probably spend all of your time trying to make a viral TikTok song and it will not work, but you could just release a song, and then a random bit of it becomes viral. If something connects, it connects.” There’s an authenticity and an unpredictability that cuts through. 

Virtual clubs, AI and even the algorithm-driven future of pop aside, innovation lies beyond technology. Here, she points to Beverly Glenn-Copeland, who features on Mid Air—a trans man in his 80s still making music that challenges the status quo. “To me, it feels innovative, him just continuously being who he is and being open about his relationships, talking so lovingly about his wife. That existence and commitment feels very inspiring. It’s a kind of integrity.” 

Ultimately, you can’t beat what it means to someone in a crowd to identify with a song about queer love in a world that suppresses queerness at every turn. If in doubt, pay a visit to Club Mid Air.

This story will be featured in GREATEST ISSUE 09, launching August 2024.

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