The Glow of Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ Release

WHarli XCX sixth studio album Brat, released earlier this month, has become a cultural phenomenon. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number three on the billboard 200 on the album chart – making it Charli’s highest-charting album in the US and her second top 10 album in the UK. It was also one of Charli’s most critically reviewed albums. She received 95/100 in Metacritica site that aggregates reviews from different publications and gives projects an average score of 100.

Part of her popularity is, of course, due to Charli XCX’s It-girl status in pop. But the appeal also lies in how the pop star defined the idea of ​​being a “brat.” Charli has called an album her “most aggressive and confrontational album”, which also shows a lot of vulnerability in songs like “So I”, where she talks about her friendship with producer SOPHIE, who passed away in 2021, and “Sympathy is a knife”, a confessional song about how deal with public pressure. For Charli, being a brat is about being a complex character: you can admit your flaws and recognize that that makes you human, but you can also do whatever you want however you want.

And the album cover, an acid-green square with the title in enlarged, low-resolution Arial font, is the perfect meme and has inspired many to spread their own messages.

Charli also promoted her album online by speaking directly to fans, opting for direct interviews on TikTok and unexpected appearances. In February, she DJed the Boiler Room warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn, sharing her music and snippets of new album tracks. Since February, she has released several singles from Bratalong with remix collaborations with the likes of Addison Rae, Robyn, Yung Lean, and most recently Lorde.

Here’s a look at Charli XCX’s shiny Brat get up.

The “girl, so confused” remix with Lorde

Charli XCX’s complicated relationship with pop star Lorde goes back years. A decade ago, shortly after the success of her song “Boom Clap,” Charli was interviewed by a woman who said she “loves” her music. In the video, Charli half-listens while sucking on a lollipop and holding an avocado. But she perks up when the interviewer asks where she got the inspiration for the song “Royals”, Lorde’s hit. Charli agrees with the confusion and answers the question. , 10 years later.

At the Brat track “girl, so confused” Charli refers to a forced friendship with someone in the industry with whom she was compared and confused. “People say we look alike. They say we have the same hair. We talk about making music, but I don’t know if it’s honest,” she sings in the pre-chorus. Although Lorde and Charli rose in popularity around the same time, they never seemed to be close. Fans speculated that Charli was talking about Lorde, pointing to the lyrics in the song’s second verse: “You love writing poems, but I’m about to throw parties. I think you should come to my party and raise your hands. Some thought this was a reference to lyrics from Lorde’s song “Team,” where she sings about overcoming “being told to put your hands up.”

Lorde seemed to confirm the rumors when she jumped on a remix of the song with Charli and addressed the fight in a brutally candid verse: “Well, honestly, I was speechless when I woke up to your voice note,” Lorde sings. “I have been at war in my body. I tried to starve myself and then I gained all the weight back. I was stuck in hate and your life seemed so incredible.” She ends her verse by saying: “I forgot this inside the iconthere is still a young lady from Essex.”

The two harmonized on a post-chorus verse, singing, “And when we put this to bed, the internet will go crazy.” They were right.

Charli shared a screenshot of her text messages with Lorde (whose real name is Ella), who shared the lyrics to her verse via text message. Charli’s response: “Holy shit.”

The internet praised both women for openly discussing their fight and publicly quelling it.

Bratdiscrete acquisition

Charli doesn’t have any features on the official album, but the remixes she released alongside the singles were some of the most well-received. The “Von Dutch” remix with Addison Rae proved that the two are a perfect match and can make a killer record together. When the song was released, she shared a video of Addison in the studio recording the improvised scream she does in the song, which has racked up over 31.8 million views.

Fans loved it so much that when Charli introduced Addison at her Los Angeles concert, the crowd roared along with her.

Not only are the collaborations a testament to Charli’s impeccable taste, the “360” music video featured a long list of It girls in a song about It girls. Chloë Sevigny, Julia Fox, Emma Chamberlain, Quen Blackwell, Rachel Sennott, Alex Consani and others were featured in the music video.

Throughout the album’s promotion, Charli made appearances in New York, Los Angeles and London. Following her set at the Boiler Room, she sent a cryptic post to X on May 2 with an address in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which featured a time.

Her fans gathered at the venue and she began playing music and dancing on top of a car in a swarm of hundreds of fans in front of a lime green wall with the word “brat” on it – this later became known as “the wall.” of a brat.”

There is a live broadcast of “the brat wall” and after the release of the album, it was changed to a white background and announced the deluxe version of the album, Brat and it’s the same thing, but it has three more songs, so it’s notjust three days after the initial launch.

Live streaming isn’t the only way she’s used social media to her advantage. More recently, she’s done interviews with well-known TikTok interviewers who play low-stakes games or ask for her opinion.

Charli’s success, which lasted more than a decade, is proof that you don’t have to be the biggest pop star in the world or sell millions of records to be considered a success. A core fan base, solid music, and an off-kilter but accessible aesthetic can propel a pop star to heights typically reserved only for industry titans.