Is smoking cool again? Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and the other stars not afraid to light up
Smoking is all over pop star imagery and lyrics, but its revival as a glamorous accessory faces pushback from experts
Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Lorde have more in common than chart-topping hits. All three have crafted images that include smoking – whether in music videos, lyrics or public appearances. Are they inadvertently setting a risky example for fans?
Playing with cigarettes seems to be popular again in pop culture at the moment. British singer Charli XCX also likes to pose as a smoker. In 2024, she launched the eponymous “Brat Summer” with her album Brat. In a BBC interview, she said that all you really need to be “Brat” is a top without a bra, a lighter and, of course, a pack of smokes.
Pop music culture and media researcher, Christoph Jacke, says he is acutely aware that cigarettes are increasingly appearing among female pop music superstars in particular. “Of course, this may also have something to do with the fact that there seem to be more of them.” However, he characterises the cigarette itself as a “cultural constant” in pop music.
It has never really gone away and has therefore not made a massive comeback, says Jacke, who is the deputy managing director of C:pop, a research centre for popular music and creative industries at the University of Paderborn in Germany. “Rather, it was sometimes more visible and sometimes less visible in various trend waves,” he notes.
According to Jacke, smoking itself and the cigarette are part of the star image for many artists. “They are also part of singers’ lyrics and provide iconic images for lifestyle staging on or off stage.”
Of course, these public self-presentations do not automatically mean that the stars actually smoke off stage.