Charli XCX – ‘Brat’ album review: a tale of two Charlis
THE SKINNY: No one executes a marketing campaign quite like Charli XCX. For her latest offering, Brat, she delved entirely into the party girl image, adorning tour posters with baggies and amassing almost three million views on an iconic Boiler Room set, steeping her lyrics in narcissism and roping in fellow it girls in for remixes and music videos. It seemed that Brat would mark a return to Charli’s roots in rave culture – and, at some points, it does.
Future club classics are sprinkled into the tracklisting of Brat. The swerving ‘Von Dutch’ has already found a permanent place on the USB sticks of hyperpop DJs, and the hedonistic ‘365’ is sure to join it as soon as Brat is unleashed on the world. Descriptions of mean girls and shrugged invitations to meet Charli in the bathroom for a little key or a little line maintain the sleazy, underground rave culture image that the record was marketed as, but it isn’t necessarily a club record at its core.
The tracks you might be able to imagine pulsing through the sound system of your dingiest basement club barely make up half of Brat. When Charli isn’t proclaiming herself as our current it girl, she’s delving into the insecurities she hides beneath that reputation, charting the grief she experienced after the loss of her close friend and collaborator Sophie, and tackling her conflicting feelings around motherhood, pairing each of these topics with slightly softer sound.
This might be one occasion where Charil’s marketing has been slightly misleading. If you’ve been drawn in by the party girl promotion, Brat might not live up to your hopes for a rave record. Instead, Brat is a tale of two Charlis: the sunglassed, “so Julia,” it girl who drags you to the club every weekend, sunglasses and poppers in hand, and the more vulnerable Charli behind-the-scenes, who struggles to marry her image with her low self-esteem and attempts to balance her fame with her personal life.
For fans of: Vogues and Vogue.
A concluding comment from Charli: “They don’t build statues of critics.”
Brat track-by-track:
Release date: 7th June | Label: Atlantic
‘360’: An unexpectedly understated opener sets the thematic tone for Brat, with references to camera flashes, princess streaks, and being “so Julia,” aka the it girl of the moment. It’s not quite as striking as the singles that preceded it, but A.G.’s production will have you jumping nonetheless. [3.5/5]
‘Club Classics’: Between swerving synths and sweat marks, odes to her friends and odes to the dancefloor, Charli has created a club classic of her own. Take it all in, because it’s perhaps the purest glimpse at club culture on this side of Brat. [4/5]
‘Sympathy is a Knife’: Charli replaces bratty statements about her it-girl reputation with newfound vulnerability on ‘Sympathy is a knife,’ allowing her insecurities and paranoia to cut through the artificiality of her sound. “I couldn’t even be her if I tried,” she admits, the strain in her voice apparent even through autotune. [3/5]
‘I Might Say Something Stupid’: Charli continues to contradict her claims to club classic status on the downtempo ‘I might say something stupid,’ which delves even further into her feelings of imposter syndrome. “I’m famous but not quite,” she shrugs, struggling to find belonging between her personal life and the role of pop party girl. [3/5]
‘Talk Talk’: Charli is back on form on the impossibly catchy ‘Talk talk’, which, perhaps to her chagrin, could easily fit amongst the tracklisting for Crash. Between glittery flourishes and repeated requests that her lover just talk, talk to her, Charli proves her enduring penchant for pop with a track that will have you singing along from first listen. [3.5/5]
‘Von Dutch’: The narcissistic hedonism promised by the marketing campaign for Brat finally returns on the increasingly iconic ‘Von Dutch’, which remains a standout track on the album no matter how many times you’ve replayed it in the last three months. She’s still your number one. [5/5]
‘Everything is Romantic’: Flickering strings seem to suggest Charli might take a new direction entirely on ‘Everything is romantic’, but a pulsing beat quickly grounds her back in an underground basement with a Brazilian edge. Another potential club classic. [4/5]
‘Rewind’: A hybrid of hyperpop, club influences and some on-the-nose sound effects, ‘Rewind’ finds Charli longing for simpler days spent burning CDs and painting her toenails. It’s Charli doing what she does best, juxtaposing the underground with the mainstream, the vulnerable with the artificial, the past with the future. [4/5]
‘So I’: A gentle tribute to the endless impact of Charli’s late friend and sonic collaborator, Sophie. ‘So I’ provides an intimate look at Charli’s personal experience of grief, evoking Sophie’s promise that it’s okay to cry, but the experiences she details are universal. “You’d say, ‘Come on, stay for dinner,” she sings, “I’d say, ‘No, I’m fine,’ now I really wish I stayed.” [4/5]
‘Girl, So Confusing’: It really is so confusing sometimes to be a girl. [4/5]
‘Apple’: ‘Apple’ feels a little like a filler track. For most of its duration, it commits to the same bouncy but boring synth-line, while Charli tackles generational trauma through rotten apples and drives to the airport. Unfortunately, this one might have you hovering your finger over the skip button. [3/5]
‘B2b’: Charli creates a bed of squelchy synths and sirens for her vocals to float above on ‘B2b’, a track well-worthy of playing as its title instructs you to. Alongside ‘Von Dutch’, it’s one of few tracks you can picture filling clubs for years to come. [4.5/5]
‘Mean Girls’: Airpods. Lana Del Rey. Skinny cigarettes. “Coquettish.” When ‘Mean Girls’ isn’t breaking out into strangely placed piano breaks, the track is filled to the brim with buzz words that will either win you over or leave you scowling at its self-indulgence. [3/5]
‘I Think About It All The Time’: In a whiplash-inducing juxtaposition, Charli goes from addressing the mean girls to sharing her conflicting feelings around motherhood. “Should I stop my birth control?” she asks, letting us into a conversation most would reserve for private rooms. It’s soft and vulnerable, but strangely placed. [3.5/5]
‘365’: Charli saves the best till last. Remixing the opening track into a certified club classic, she invites you to meet her in the bathroom for a little key, completely committing to the bratty party girl image in every line and every drop. [5/5]
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