Not everyone who is on top of the fast-moving pop music scene has heard of Charlotte Aitchison, even by her stage name Charli XCX, but lots of people have heard her songs.

    At 22, the English singer is also a seasoned songwriter, having written and featured on international smash hits “I Love It” with Swedish pop duo Icona Pop, and “Fancy” with female rapper Iggy Azalea.

    “I Love It” hit No. 1 in Britain, and went two times platinum in the United States, while “Fancy” held No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, to go triple platinum.

    When asked if she could live on the proceeds of those two tracks alone, Aitchison told Reuters, “I could be happy... It all takes like a really long time for everything to come through, but yeah, I mean I’m definitely paying my bills. Thanks, Icona Pop!”

    Despite appearances, though, success has not come overnight.

    “I remember pretty much every year for four years of my life being like, the one to watch, and obviously it’s a great compliment, but I was kind of over it by year two,” she said during a rooftop photo shoot in the heart of east London.

    “I was like, ‘Aren’t people watching now?’”

    Having released singles since 2008, she said she had almost given up her pop-star dreams to focus on song writing, finding it “exhausting trying to explain my vision to people when they’re not ready to hear it.”

    But “suddenly pop music changed and I became part of that structure, weirdly enough.”

    She is now releasing her new single “Break the Rules,” out this week, ahead of her new album, “Sucker,” out next year.

    Aitchison is on a tour of the United States and will be supporting Katy Perry on her 2015 European Tour.

    (SD-Agencies)