Speed Drive

"Speed Drive" is a song by English singer Charli XCX from Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of the 2023 film Barbie. The song was released on 29 June 2023 as the fourth single from the soundtrack and reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Charli XCX's sixth top 10 single in the chart.

Background and composition
Charli XCX was one of the first artists that Mark Ronson, the producer of the Barbie soundtrack, contacted to be featured on the album. In an Instagram post on 22 June 2023, Charli XCX shared that she "always loved the escapism" that her Barbie dolls provided and that it was "kind of a full circle moment to be a part of this soundtrack and movie." Ronson talked about the work with Charli XCX: "'When you’re telling someone where you want their song in the film, everyone wants to hear ‘opening credits’ or ‘closing credits,’ but not ‘car chase. [...] I remember Charli asked: ‘Where are you thinking this song is gonna go?’ And I said, ‘Err, I dunno, car chase?’ under my breath. And Charli just said: ‘This speaks to me in an immense way.’ Because Charli is just so amazing and she just loves that raw energy'""Speed Drive" contains an interpolation of "Mickey", written by Mike Chapman and Nicholas Chinn, and performed by Toni Basil. It also contains an interpolation of "Cobrastyle", written by Klas Åhlund, Joakim Åhlund, Patrick Arve, Ewart Brown, Fabian Torsson, Troy Rami, Paul Rota, David Parker and Sylvia Robinson, and performed by Robyn; which itself is a cover of "Cobrastyle", performed by Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra.

Release
"Speed Drive" was the third single to be released from the Barbie soundtrack. Ahead of its release, Charli XCX shared a snippet of the song over a clip of Margot Robbie from the Barbie film.

Reception
Alex Gonzalez of Uproxx wrote, "On 'Speed Drive', Charli taps into her glimmery, pink energy, giving the Barbie universe the bop of the century." Liberty Dunworth of NME wrote that the single "may be brief—coming in at less than two minutes long—but still manages to pack a punch as one of the most energetic songs on the soundtrack."

Steffanee Wang of Nylon wrote that "Speed Drive" sounded "hyperpop frenzy" and "one of the album’s highlights". Cat Zhang of Pitchfork also called the track the "relative highlight" of its parent album and "more clever than the rest of Barbie's selections".

Music video
On 1 August 2023, Charli filmed an official music video for the song, which was released on the 16th of August 2023. The music video for "Speed Drive", directed by Ramez Silyan, premiered via Charli XCX YouTube channel. The video featured a cameo of Sam Smith and Devon Lee Carlson.

Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, "Speed Drive" reached number nine on the Official Singles Chart, becoming Charli XCX's sixth top 10 single and her first as a lead artist since "Doing It" with Rita Ora in 2015. In the United States, the song became the singer’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 since "Break the Rules" in 2014, her fifth song to chart overall.

Personnel
All credits are adapted from CD liner notes of Barbie the Album.


 * Charlotte Aitchison – songwriter
 * Easyfun – songwriter, producer
 * Joakim Frans Åhlund – songwriter
 * Klas Frans Åhlund – songwriter
 * Patrik Knut Arve – songwriter
 * Ewart Everton Brown – songwriter
 * David James Parker – songwriter
 * Troy Rami – songwriter
 * Sylvia Robinson – songwriter
 * Fabian Peter Torsson – songwriter
 * Mike Chapman – songwriter
 * Nicholas Chinn – songwriter
 * Manny Marroquin – mixing