I’m So Charli xcx: How the BRAT Album has Shaped 2024

04/12/2024

Isobel Moore looks at the impact of BRAT on the past year.

Article Image

Image by Atlantic Records Press

By Isobel Moore

The definition of a brat is “a child, typically one that is badly behaved”. However, there is nothing childish about Charli Xcx’s sixth studio album BRAT, and its remix counterpart. The main reason is that it is an album of dichotomies: both niche in its artistry and mainstream in its musicality, giving an ‘I don’t care attitude’ and an ‘I care too much attitude’, and showcasing the party it-girl and the mature 30-something year old career woman. The album acts as both deeply personal to those who listen attentively and fun hyper-pop to those on Tik-tok. It is undeniable that BRAT has come to define the summer, and year, of 2024.

The etymology of the word ‘brat’ can be traced back to the Old French for hound, or ‘bitch’, and Old Irish for cloak or rough garment. The history of this word perfectly encapsulates Charli Xcx’s own description for the concept of BRAT: the image of a messy-haired mean girl in a strappy top, preferably white, no bra and a bic lighter, lit cigarette, probably covered in lipstick, loose on the lips. Articles of clothing in their own right have now become almost synonymous with Charli and her retinue of ‘bratty’ cool girls.

BRAT’s eye-sore acid green cover has made its rounds on both niche Instagram meme pages and the recent political campaign for Vice-President Kamala Harris. The wide-spread popularity was least expected by Charli herself, with her repeatedly poking fun at the idea of her overnight success which was decades in the making. An underground artist before the pop-girl persona the world has now made her, Charli Xcx started her road to BRAT at the age of 14. It doesn’t get more BRAT than that. Posting songs on MySpace earned her recognition and invitations to perform at illegal warehouse raves. A normal fame story would continue with her parents banning her from this, but, in almost proto-BRAT fashion, her parents supported this elicit activity and attended her gigs. In 2010, she signed a contract with her first record company.

With years of working with different producers, Charli finally met friend and frequent collaborator A.G. Cook around 2016 when he became her creative director under his record label, PC Music. They’ve been long-standing standing collaborators since then. A.G Cook also worked with Beyoncé, Troye Sivan and Caroline Polachek. The hype around BRAT manifested around the time of their Boiler Room set in February of this year, which broke RSVP records for the venue. The birth of BRAT being in a Bushwick Warehouse, warehouses seem to be a relic of Charli’s past and career so far.

Taking into account the context of BRAT’s birth, is the album so popular because of its message of independent girl power, and curation of an it-girl messy girl image, or because of its deep diary-entry like ruminations on fame, womanhood and motherhood? The answer, I think, is both. Most 21st Century women live within this space, grappling with jealous-ridden and close female friendships, navigating your long-term relationship with your partner and handling your career. BRAT is a work of a well-rounded woman who is still building her world around her and figuring things out.

Amongst an era of pop girls who write ballads about heartbreak, their teenage years or the many romances they have been entangled in, it is the blunt and piercing honesty of Charli Ccx’s lyrics in BRAT which gives her listener a lyrical emotional punch underlined by loud club synths and sounds.

This honesty is also found in the ‘Girl, so confusing’ remix with Lorde. What turned into a huge internet moment for those following the Lorde/Charli Ccx ‘beef’ that had been simmering for years, started as a one-sided song of jealousy and difference between women within the music industry. From these assumed, one-sided feelings Charli then did something almost unheard of in modern pop music – feature the woman you have written a slightly brutal and ‘bares all’ song about on your remix album. This was a brave and refreshing move from Charli. Pop music fans can only dream of the day Taylor Swift has Harry Styles on a feature of ‘Style,’ Joshua Bassett on a feature of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘rivers license’, or Shawn Mendes on a feature of Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Taste' - to name a few.

It is not only honesty that marks Charli Xcx out from her musical counterparts, it is her influences. One being the late Scottish producer SOPHIE. In ‘So, I’ she sings: “my ex-boyfriend played your Soundcloud/ That moment really changed my life”. In an interview with The Face magazine Charli explains the ‘futuristic’ aspect of SOPHIE’s pop music was what inspired her so much. SOPHIE’s influence shines through BRAT and the way she bares her emotions through what can be, rather simply, described as club music. She asks us to “guess the colour of [her] underwear,’ on “Guess”, a highly explicit song addressing those jealous of her. Alongside this, she digs up insecurities about her fame and career while also discussion the prospect of motherhood on  “I think about it all the time,” and on “Rewind” she talks about her body image. This is all whilst promoting her album through numerous raves in places like Ibiza, warehouses and Saturday Night Live.

The popularity of BRAT in 2024 has shown us that there is an inner ‘365 party girl’ in everyone.