She’s back, and she just might be better than ever! Charli XCX finally returned to the ‘Saturday Night Live’ stage on Mar. 5, for an especially long-awaited performance. The pop star had previously been set to perform on the show Dec. 18 alongside artists Caroline Polachek and Christine & The Queens, but was unable to after the surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in New York left SNL with a limited crew. With her triumphant return, the artist showed a hiatus that didn’t hold her back at all.
Charli started off performing her new single with Rina Sawayama, “Beg for You.” Rocking a short white mini with extreme puffed sleeves and miles-long fingernails, Charli rocked the stage with her unique style of dance and performance. With the Studio 8H stage transformed by smoke machines, white pillars, and billowing, filmy curtains, Charli completely made the performance her own.
🤍 @charli_xcx 🤍 pic.twitter.com/6uazOCFPQL
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 6, 2022
Later in the night, Charli returned to the stage to debut her new song “Baby” alongside two fabulous, silk-shirt clad dances. Prancing around the stage in a carefully choreographed dance and a sexy fringed leather outfit, Charli’s impressive moves proved she can hold her own with any of today’s pop girls.
Back in 2021, Charli was announced as the musical guest for a Dec. 18 show hosted by Paul Rudd. Charli, who stays active on her social media accounts, clearly couldn’t wait for the big night and even shared an adorable side-to-side comparison of her on the Studio 8H stage in 2014 and ahead of the 2021 show. She had previously teased the debut of her hit song ‘New Shapes,’ and urged fans to ‘tune in tonight,’ accompanied by a fireworks emoji encompassing her excitement.
But after the Omicron variant brought New York City to a swift partial shutdown, the show just couldn’t go on as planned. On the afternoon of the planned show, SNL announced via their Twitter account they would no longer be taping in front of a live audience and would use a limited cast and crew.
Unfortunately, the crew shortages affected Charli’s planned performance, and she took to Instagram to share the bad news. “hi everyone,” she shared on the evening of Dec. 18, “due to the limited crew at tonight’s taping of snl my musical performances will no longer be able to go ahead. i am devastated and heartbroken. myself, caroline, christine and all of our crews and teams have worked so hard all week alongside the snl team to bring the most amazing music performance to life. it can’t happen this time but I’ll be back! i am currently safe and healthy but of course very sad.” Props to Charli for an incredible, if belated, performance!