Veröffentlicht
Oct 15, 2024Veröffentlicht
October 2024
- As we say goodbye to brat summer, Charli revamps her hit record with a star-studded thesis statement on fame—with a close-to-heart director's cut.
- "When I did this, I wasn't sure what the vibe was going to be," Charli xcx said before a few hundred fans clustered at upstate New York's Storm King Art Center. As she settled into her raised DJ booth, she wore black wraparound sunglasses to mitigate the late-autumn sun—many in the audience did, too. "I guess this is what the vibe is."
The vibe in question was a cube of lime-green walls emblazoned with the titles of the latest remix tracks for her hit record, BRAT. The impromptu preview event for Brat and it's completely different but also still brat took place at the 500-acre outdoor museum, where sculptures from Nam June Paik, Sol LeWitt and Henry Moore also dwell. On a Thursday, at 12:30 PM, city brats ditched work to swarm the Metro North, where they embarked on a journey to Beacon in fashionable leather jackets.
It's unlikely Charli, who only a year ago had strong footholds within pop's so-called "middle class," pictured this exactly—and even the most stalwart Angel couldn't have predicted her ascendant status in 2024. Sometimes, waves just surge. When Charli's wave, BRAT, came in June, it swelled into a tsunami that defined this summer on every level; from the colour palette to the lexicon (good luck telling a time traveller from 2023 what "kamala IS brat" means). But Charli's it-girl moment has never felt as full-circle as it does on Brat and it's completely different but also still brat. Months into her newly-vaunted fame, she's returned with a thesis statement on stardom and a close-to-heart director's cut.
BRAT's critical acclaim launched Charli into a new industry stratosphere. On the remix album, the sheen of celebrity begins to look well-worn. Many edits and (their A-list features) here are already familiar—Addison Rae's "von dutch" scream, Lorde and Charli working it out on "girl so confusing," Robyn and Yung Lean's light-footed "360." But Charli's contact list isn't dusty. New faces include rising Spanish rapper BB Trickz, who holds her own on a thumping "Club Classics" garage remix, and on "I might say something stupid" The 1975's Matty Healy whispers are awash in British producer Jon Hopkins' buzzing string instrumental. Modern pop remix albums have had a lazy streak—tacked-on features, small-minded production and recycled vocals. But Charli comes to the club with new verses, exciting collaborators and a fresh eye for her past work.
Here, Charli flexes some serious break-the-internet muscle. "Sympathy is a knife" adds Ariana Grande and new verses charting growing pains and bittersweet success: "It's a knife when you're finally on top / 'Cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall to the bottom," they both belt through brassy Auto-Tune. But hearing "Nasty" singer Tinashe on "B2b" is what nearly tops the earth-shattering shock of Lorde breaking the fourth wall on "girl, so confusing." The rework transforms "B2b"'s original break-up to make-up narrative into a jet-setter's morning alarm. Who better to join Charli on a flex parade about blowing up than her 2015 collaborator, who also charted the biggest solo hit of her career in June? Charli relishes their shared moment of success: "Oh my god, we really blew the fuck up / Now everybody wants what we got."
Any remix album worth its salt plays with existing textures, but Brat and it's completely different but also still brat turns familiar beat snippets and vocal samples into calling cards for old memories. A new version of the SOPHIE tribute "So I" with A.G. Cook braids fragments of PC Music instrumentation while Charli recalls snapshots of good times: "First time I ever felt alive on stage / In Texas, in matching latex / That's as cool as I'm ever gonna feel," she sings, wondering if the prime she wanted is already in the rearview. Charli navigates the same ouroboros of major label pop music, but introduces a new afterhours vulnerability. After the party ends, how do you really feel?
On "Rewind," she recruits Drain Gang rapper Bladee to consider notoriety's side effects: competition in LA, fickle paparazzi, judgement in the mirror. On the Bon Iver-assisted "I Think About It All The Time," she adds depth to pre-existing fears that she's missing out on motherhood. On a lush flip of "Everything is Romantic," which flows from the romantic patter of new-wave drill into a deluge of violin, she wonders if we should romanticise fame in the first place. After Caroline Polacheck's vivid and billowing verse, uncertainty crackles through Charli's speaking voice on a phone call: "Living that life is romantic, right?"
BRAT's most profound reckoning is that, while Charli might be unmatched in her corner of the pop ecosystem, she's not alone. In the summer of BRAT's malcontent, Charli xcx swept up an unprecedented cast of characters in her green inferno. Even indie sleaze queen Kesha is accounted for on an electroclash rendering of "springbreakers," where she proclaims: "Me and Charli, we the party girl gods!" But for now, the strobes have settled and BRAT's walls from New York to Miami have collapsed into puddles of raw-edged material. What's left, as Brat and it's completely different but also still brat indicates, is a Charli that day one fans will recognise warmly: a collaborator, a pop head and a clear-eyed artist who can trust her own A&R. BRAT's sweaty heyday may be crystallising into memory; and so what? Charli and co. are still cool as ever.
TracklistDisc One
01. 360 feat. robyn & yung lean
02. Club classics feat. bb trickz
03. Sympathy is a knife feat. ariana grande
04. I might say something stupid feat. the 1975 & jon hopkins
05. Talk talk feat. troye sivan
06. Von dutch a. g. cook remix feat. addison rae
07. Everything is romantic feat. caroline polachek
08. Rewind feat. bladee
09. So i feat. a. g. cook
10. Girl, so confusing featuring lorde
11. Apple feat. the japanese house
12. B2b feat. tinashe
13. Mean girls feat. julian casablancas
14. I think about it all the time feat. bon iver
15. 365 feat. shygirl
16. Guess feat. billie eilish
Disc Two
01. 360
02. Club classics
03. Sympathy is a knife
04. I might say something stupid
05. Talk talk
06. Von dutch
07. Everything is romantic
08. Rewind
09. So I
10. Girl, so confusing
11. Apple
12. B2b
13. Mean girls
14. I think about it all the time
15. 365
16. Hello goodbye
17. Guess
18. Spring breakers