“I certainly think we’ve got to be careful with this eighties revival thing,” says Elly Jackson, the voice behind the ultra-catchy electro pop outfit La Roux. “I mean, how long can anything like that last?” For a 21-year-old with a gravity-defying coiffure resembling a lick of flame and a sound that recalls acts like Depeche Mode and the Human League, this cautionary tact might sound self-defeating. Instead, it’s an example of the kind of cultural awareness that makes La Roux (Jackson co-writes with fellow Brit Ben Langmaid, who also produces) so successful. “We didn’t get enough,” she says of the eighties. “I think for our generation, it’s like the decade we missed and that’s why it’s fascinating.” The charts wouldn’t argue. Wrapping up their inaugural North American tour this week, La Roux’s self-titled album, out this September, is studded with hit-making material. The single “Bulletproof” debuted at the number one spot on the UK billboards and dance-floor anthems like “In for the Kill” and “Quicksand,” with their clubby hooks and emotive lyrics, are equally infectious. “It’s about writing things that aren’t too specific or obscure, that relate to everyone,” says Jackson. As clear-eyed as Jackson might be about the past-is-future appeal of her band, La Roux’s fever-pitch success still came as a shock: “I don’t think I ever genuinely thought I’d have a number one,” she says. “I remember calling my mom, and she cried.” Like her sound, Jackson’s late-night-goddess style is rooted in decades past—recent purchases include pieces from Giles Deacon and Lacroix—but the effect is indisputably au courant.