The post Charli
Charli XCX’s new album Brat is not for the faint of heart. Don’t be fooled by the commercially oriented pastiche of Charli’s latest record Crashwhich was perhaps her most accessible album since her 2013 debut, True love. No, that Charli got run over – maybe in ‘Speed Drive’, the confused hyper-pop from the Barbie soundtrack.
Instead, op Brat, Charli XCX gets her hands dirty. It goes back to both the Vroom Vroom, Angel number 1, And Doll 2 eras of Charli, while also leaning into the neon-drenched hedonism of recent years’ turbo pop. The mixtapes she made with SOPHIE, AG Cook and Easyfun not only influenced the wider avant-pop movement, they clearly also have meaning for Charli herself. She has brought back the last two producers for several songs, along with her fiancé George Daniel. Brat wants to be both the Red Bull and the vodka.
Buy Charli XCX tickets here
Charli XCX dedicated Crash to the late producer SOPHIE, with whom she made numerous tracks until her death in 2021 Brat sounds more indebted to the work of SOPHIE than to its predecessor, and that applies not only to the beautiful, heartfelt dedication of “So I.” There are plenty of post-pop style choices, moments of abrasiveness and dissonance, and cutting hi-fi production, inspired by the bombastic late 2000s sound that Charli often cut her teeth into.
“Von Dutch” is like a bloghouse from twelve years ago that fell into a barrel of radioactive sludge. The standout “Mean Girls” is all David Guetta-esque turbo pop until the second chorus, where Charli just isolates a jazzy piano and builds the beat back up from there. A song appropriately dedicated to “the bad girls” and containing one of the craziest, most dramatic detours on the album, it’s exactly the kind of strange dichotomy Charli wants to tap into: tension and release, progression and subversion.
While sharp edges abound, some songs dial down their aggressive tendencies for a more rounded sound. The dizzying, disco-encoded ‘Talk Talk’ is reminiscent of that euphoric Ed Banger era, just like ‘Von Dutch’, but without the biting edge. She uses her airy lead voice in the song’s catchy chorus — not a typical move for Charli, but one that makes “Talk Talk” feel as fizzy as champagne. “Apple” evokes a bubblegum flair, but almost surprisingly this conventional sound feels out of place compared to the more confused, unpredictable songs.
When announcing BratCharli said in an interview that the album was “direct”: “I’m over the idea of metaphor and flowery lyricism and not saying exactly what I’m thinking like I would say in a text to a friend,” she said. “This record has all the things I would talk to my friends about, just the way I would say them.”
The lyrics of Brat go from Instagram captions to free association to full emotional disclosure. “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia,” she sings in one quick breath on the opening track “360,” elongating the final vowel sound of “Julia” with a raised pitch to suggest that “Julia” is not just the physical person is. Julia Fox just an idea, a personality, an attitude. It’s based on the idea that the listener knows she’s talking about Fox, but even decontextualized you can understand what she means when she says, “I’m so Juliaaaaa” — her attitude is so commanding.
The heaviness of Brat lies mainly in the trio of more forlorn songs – the SOPHIE dedication “So I” and the existential ballads “I Might Say Something Stupid” and “I Think About It All the Time.” In the final two songs, Charli shares her grief as she reflects on what life as a mother could be like in “I Think About It All the Time” and fears that her job is in direct conflict with that role. Meanwhile, Charli explores a more complex dynamic with another female pop star in the downright strange “Girl, So Confusing,” with the tension in their relationship emphasized through the notes of the amped-up “Girl!” vocal samples that sound both sharp and deflating.
But the most fascinating moment of Charli XCX’s journey from the outside to the inside to the outside Brat comes from ‘Rewind’. On first listen it sounds like a repeat of Charli cut ‘1999’ as she begs for a ‘throwback’ to a time when times were simpler and she worried less about her own insecurities. But instead of longing for nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, Charli rightly takes a moment to evaluate her entire career. “I never thought about it before Billboard/ But now I’ve started thinking again and wondering if I deserve commercial success,” she sings.
This is a major point of tension in “Rewind” and Brat As a whole. Charli But Charli is right to show that no matter how shiny and futuristic the exterior is, she is not indestructible.
Right now, Charli She knows she risks alienating casual pop fans who might not be interested in the bombastic sheen of her new music, and yet part of her wonders if that compromise is worth it. How can she be both ‘Main pop girl’ and ‘Queen of the enthusiastic underground’? If she has been relegated to pop’s middle class, whether through the industry or the consumers themselves, does that compare to the quality of music she knows she can make?
Luckily, there’s one thing Charli XCX is wonderfully consistent about: she waits for the world to catch up, not the other way around. “Cult classic but I still pop,” she barks this time on “Von Dutch” – an ultimate summary of her unique position in the pop landscape, and another intriguing promise for the future.
Editor’s note: Buy tickets to see Charli XCX live here.
Charli XCX’s Brat is Abrasive, Absurd, and Irresistible: Review
Paolo Ragusa
popular posts
Subscribe to Consequence’s email digests to get the latest music, film, and television news, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more delivered straight to your inbox.
