BRAT is the flawless culmination of all of Charli XCX’s adventures in the realm of pop girl divadom. From mainstream radio star to hyper-pop legend, Charli has tried and tested many sounds and styles, but BRAT is where the British icon has truly hit her stride.
Von Dutch, the album’s first single, dropped in February and since then fans have been gnawing at the bars of the cage Charli had locked the album inside.
The song became an immediate fan favourite and circled far and wide on TikTok, with audiences hyping themselves up for more dance bops with the next releases.
She then released Club Classics, B2b, 360, and a Von Dutch remix that solidified fans’ expectations of the remainder of BRAT: an album was coming full of dance bangers delivered with a confidence and sureness previously unseen in Charli XCX.
Wonderfully, fans were right. BRAT is the totality of Charli XCX as a visionary, icon and talented writer, producer, singer and performer.
Whilst the dance tracks are undeniably party-worthy, BRAT is surprisingly personal and- at points- moving. So I is a love letter to Sophie Xeon, a pivotal member in establishing the hyperpop genre and a dear friend of Charli’s. She died in 2021, and Charli’s personal life and music career were publicly very impacted by her grief. So I is a reference to Sophie’s It’s Okay to Cry, and is the album’s sole tear-jerker, but don’t fret; it still has a fun, electronic beat that would do Sophie proud.
Mean Girls is an ode to the bratty, trashy, chipped nail-polish 2010s Tumblr girls. Like several other tracks, the track was co-produced by A.G. Cook, an equally important member of the hyperpop community. It’s lyrics are literal and fun and the beat has the core BRAT danceability.
Talk talk is a sugar-rush pop track that was perhaps snubbed of single status. It’s the epitome of Charli XCX’s sound yet isn’t too avant-garde to prevent radio play. Regardless, it’s a banger that proves Charli’s talents have only erupted with her new era.
Charli’s vulnerability is enveloped in synth, hot BPMs and club sounds. BRAT is an unveiling of the type of pop star Charli has always wanted to be. Surprisingly, it’s also an unearthing of her humanity, disclosing not only the struggles of Charli XCX the pop diva but also of Charlotte, the 30-something-year-old woman fighting for her place in a cutthroat industry.
Charli had begun playing the singles already at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in Luton and Primavera Sound in Barcelona. However, a full album tour and collaboration tour with Troye Sivan is coming soon. Tickets are available here.
Feature image credit: Atlantic Records
Editor-in-Chief.
Twitter/X and BlueSky: @AlexPaterson01
