Charli XCX made a brief video appearance during Djo’s set at Outside Lands 2026, during his performance of ‘Charlie’s Garden’. Check it out below.
- READ MORE: Charli XCX – ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ review: a snapshot of stardom from a true modern artist
The cameo came as the singer, songwriter and actor performed at this year’s edition of Outside Lands in San Francisco on Saturday night (August 8).
During the set, Djo – real name Joe Keery – broke out his 2025 song ‘Charlie’s Garden’, which he dropped last spring and featured a spoken-word cameo from his Stranger Things co-star Charlie Heaton.
“Sorry to let you know last minute. I know you’re probably on your way, but we’re not going to get you tonight. Maybe Thursday? Maybe Friday? I don’t know. Sorry, man,” Heaton says in the original – however during the live rendition, Djo surprised fans by swapping out the actor’s feature for a surprise voicemail message from Charli XCX.
During the set, a phone ringtone could be heard over the speakers, before the huge screens at the stadium showed Charli XCX leaving a voicemail.
“Hey Djo, it’s Charli. I had no idea that you’d written a song about me,” she said. “That is like, so sweet of you. I’m honoured. Anyways, call me back after the show and we can talk about it. Bye!”
The musician and actor, who played Steve Harington in the hit Netflix show, has spoken about his love of Charli XCX before, and told NME back in 2024 about why he admires her.
“I feel like what she’s really good at is writing a song that is really about a specific thing,” he explained. “A great example is this song from [‘2022’s ‘Crash’] called ‘Yuck’. It’s a great song about such a funny thing: her being over-stifled by a romantic partner, a boy who’s really obsessed with her. I feel like that’s such a cool concept for a song and she just nails it.”
“And I feel like she does that pretty consistently with a lot of her music,” he added. “I also love the production of her songs. I just think she’s really cool and doing her own thing and not afraid to be herself. Which is kind of the whole point.”
The cameo during Djo’s set wasn’t the only time Charli XCX was seen at Outside Lands either. The singer also headlined the event and broke out numerous new songs from her recently released album ‘Music, Fashion, Film’, as well as fan favourites from ‘Brat’.
She also made a surprise appearance during The Strokes‘ set at the festival too, joining Julian Casablancas and co. to play ‘Take It Or Leave It’.
Before then, Charli recorded an intimate live performance from Maida Vale, performed her first full headline show of the ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ era at Lollapalooza, and also joined Lorde on stage at the Chicago festival for ‘Girl, So Confusing’.
She is set to make her headline debut appearance at Reading & Leeds later this month before kicking off a North American arena tour with Underscores in September. Find any remaining tickets here.
Meanwhile, Charli has “begrudgingly” released the ‘B-sides Edition’ of ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ on iTunes and shared an accompanying film for the original album. The artist has revealed her top five Charli XCX tracks, too, including the “ultimate party song” and a cut that makes her feel “very sentimental”.
