Brat forever? Understanding what the new cover says about Charli XCX’s next steps
It has not even been a year since Charli XCX released her sixth album, Brat, and created a cultural moment. By now, Brat is in the lexicon. It’s less of a moment and more of a movement as the album seemed to signal a new youth culture boom, define a period of hedonism and utterly grip the zeitgeist, especially when the follow-up remix album saw the record leave no genre untouched on a mission for a complete takeover. All that in under a year, but with each month, from as early as August 2024, people have declared Brat over and asked the question, ‘what next?’.
It’s undeniably symptomatic of the fast-paced, trend-driven world we live in, where there’s constant demand for something new. But it’s also a clear reflection of a gender imbalance: women are given a slim window at the top before people start looking for ways to bring them down. Successful female-fronted acts are frequently branded as industry plants, and unlike their male counterparts, women are more often accused of “milking it” or dragging out their time in the spotlight. For instance, some are already accusing Charli XCX of overdoing Brat, while her fiancé’s band, The 1975, regularly tour the same album for years without backlash. It’s been three years since their last release, yet they’re headlining Glastonbury this year — and no one seems to think they’ve outstayed their welcome.
But this is a moment Charli XCX deserves, and one that has been a long time coming. While it was Brat that boomed her to global dominance, levelling her up to a headliner, this was by no means her first rodeo. Here we have an artist who has been working tirelessly for years and has always been a boundary-pushing figure, even if the world hasn’t caught up yet. Why should we now rush to end her time in the spotlight after working so hard to get it?
That is clearly a thought on her mind, and it’s a complex one. “I started thinking about culture and the ebbs and flows of the lifespan of things. Then, how when you get a level of success, you can become oversaturated and then people want you to disappear, which I understand, and I am sort of a believer in that,” she said in a video direct to her fans, wondering these things out loud. But on the other hand, Brat is something she clearly is not yet ready to be done with, as she added, “I am also interested in the tension of staying too long. I find that quite fascinating. What does that do?”.
Only haters would dare declare that Brat has stayed too long yet. In the grand scheme of things, this is still a new album, and by the continued hunger for more, the continued huge crowds at her shows, and the continued excitement to be a part of this Bratty moment in time, the interest endures. XCX has definitely not yet outstayed her welcome by any means.
But, as onlookers are vocally wondering when Brat’s summer will end and are already putting pressure on wondering what the artist will do next, now that her platform is so much bigger than before, the question marks linger around. However, XCX, continuing Brat’s incredible marketing legacy, is harnessing that.
At the end of her major Coachella set, the classic imagery changed and darkened. “Maybe it’s time for a different kind of summer?” – one bit of text read before spiralling through the names of different artists who could dominate this time around. But it got even darker than that as the words on the screen got existential. The artist told the crowd in flickering messages, “Does this mean that brat summer is finally over????? … Idk? … Maybe? … yeah cuz duh it was already over like last year. … wait… was it? … NO???… I don’t know who I am if it’s over??? FUCKKKKK…”
The next message read, “Wait… I remembered…I’m Charli XCX… and honestly… I just want this moment to last forever…” But the final, all-caps desperate shout to her crowd was, “PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE OVER.”
“So tell me the truth, will you hate me if I stick around?”
Charli XCX
It’s conflicting, and that’s the point. XCX is fascinatingly harnessing this debate and making it public as we watch this idea of endurance versus being a flashing and bright moment play out. We’re also witnessing a more internal struggle that beautifully matches with the vulnerability on many Brat tracks as XCX grapples publicly with the worries about moving on from this moment, who she’ll be, and how she’ll navigate it. All these things are undoubtedly conversations had in the privacy of artists’ homes and label offices. Charli is merely putting them on a Coachella screen.
At her recent shows in Brooklyn, these complex and existential messages heightened. “I was thinking a lot about brat summer and if it is finally over. I thought it was, but actually I don’t think it is. So tell me the truth, will you hate me if I stick around?” the screens read, before adding again, “Because honestly, I don’t know who I am if it’s over.”
The finale came when the artist declared, “I’ve decided, Brat forever”, but something was different.
When the lights went up, they were orange, paired with almost malfunctioning electrical sparks on the stage. At the same time, something changed on Spotify that feels like a clue…
Why did Charli XCX change the Brat album artwork?
Now, the Brat artwork is no longer pristine lime green. The title is scribbled out and scratched, and rust seems to be rising from the bottom. It looks like the album is battered and worn, suggesting a perfect metaphor for the entire debate that XCX is playing out.
There are only theories to answer this question, but the prevailing thought is that the new Brat album cover represents this entire conversation about how long a moment can last, how long an album gets to be clean and fresh and exciting, and how long XCX gets to be on top. Changing the artwork to be weathered and looking old is a statement about all of that.
“Everything single thing that I’ve done, even the tiniest smallest thing, has been for a reason.”
Charli XCX
It’s also, perhaps, a countdown. Maybe we will see that rust rise and the cover get more and more dishevelled as we move towards the actual end of this era. Finn Keane, one of the album’s producers, spoke of what could come next and said it was shaping up to be something completely “anti-Brat”. He added, “There is a desire in her to do the complete opposite thing again, which is very in keeping with her ethos.” So while publicly she’s desperately clinging onto Brat, perhaps this is all a bait and switch we’ll see play out later as the record rusts into something utterly different.
Who knows. But either way, the album cover changing is significant. In a TikTok in March, discussing her changing album covers, she said, “Everything single thing that I’ve done, even the tiniest smallest thing, has been for a reason.”
She added, “Everything I do has a purpose. So when this [changing album covers] happens, it will be for a reason.” She spelt it right out for us. So while the reason is unclear for now, that subtle change to the iconic Brat green means something.
