‘SNL’: Watch Charli XCX’s Seductive Live Set

Bouffant-era Charli XCX finally got to perform on Saturday Night Live and she did not disappoint.

The British pop singer’s original appearance on the show was canceled last December due to a Covid-19 outbreak among the SNL cast and crew. So it felt appropriate that the day after NYC Mayor Eric Adams scrapped the indoor mask mandate as case rates in the city remain low, Charli was right there, shaking her cowboy-dominatrix ass into a newer, sexier, pandemic-response phase.

Charli began her set with the lilting “Beg For You,” a disco-inspired song she originally recorded with R&B-pop singer Rina Sawayama. During the set, Charli strutted around in towering white patent leather platforms singing, hornily: “Can I take you to the airport? Make out under the bathroom lights?”

For her second song, “Baby,” XCX revived the leather bikini getup from the music video. The outfit, like the song, is pure sex appeal. And onstage, flanked by two dancers, Charli exuded Xena-levels of confidence. And it was more than a little clear she’d seen a Cher video or two.