There are times when a record, even in the era of streaming and playlists, manages to capture the spirit of the moment. It’s not exactly about sales, flawless production or million-dollar tours. It’s more about hitting the nail on the head for that intangible something that defines the times we live in. Bratby Charli XCX, is one of those albums.
The British singer’s sixth studio effort was released in early June, and according to review aggregator Metacritic it is the highest-rated album of 2024 so far, above Cowboy Carter Beyoncé, who remains in second place. In other words, she is sweeping. As proof, her presentation set at Boiler Roomwhich took place in New York in February and received some 25,000 applications for 1,000 invitations, making it the most coveted in the promoter’s history.
Brat It’s abrasive, impetuous, unbridled, and also vulnerable. But Charli XCX’s impact goes beyond the musical. Her sphere of influence encompasses everything that obsesses Generation Z. The Brat green color, a toxic tone, typical of bile or squishy, that floods the ugly cover, seems to be everywhere, it is not known if it is the result of a clever marketing campaign or the work and grace of virality. The British Green Party published a version From the design of the disc for the electoral campaign, there are countless memesthere are manicure tutorials on TikTok that replicate it, and there is even a generator of images that is being used to talk about any imaginable topic. Other artists have joined in on what is already being defined as the colour of summer: Caroline Polachek has posed with an image of the already recognisable cover and Rosalia she wore radioactive green nail polish.
This awkward hue is already infiltrating fashion, and has popped up in collections by Prada, Martine Rose, Gucci and Loewe. Charli XCX said in an interview with Vogue Singapore She experimented with 65 colors until she found the “offensive” tone she was looking for: “I want to question the expectations of pop culture. Why are some things considered acceptable and others not?” she declared. “I don’t do anything to be a good girl.” For a reason brat It means something like brat in English: unless you are remembered for being a nightmare.
“Expectation is a powerful weapon. When we saw Charli XCX with that green poster on social media on June 7, we already anticipated that a fresh and powerful album was coming,” argues music journalist Beatriz G. Aranda. “But the British singer’s career has always been about shattering expectations. And in this case, what no one expected was this honesty in her lyrics. For listeners tired of certain narratives in contemporary pop music (body worship as a symptom of sexual freedom, sound mixes to convince too many, an overabundance of collaborations), Brat offers more rawness and realism. And for the minorities that now reinforce values and ideas in the podcastingsome of these songs are the most entertaining musical confirmation bias you’ll encounter in a long time. A few years ago, Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle) told Nik Void that, after so many years in bands and working with men, she had realized that men tend to fill in gaps in the music more than girls. They tend to create sonic windows, so to speak. Musically, Brat It’s completely packed (electro, 2000s dance, progressive ambient), there’s no room for space. But the light comes in when Charli sings that Should I stop my birth control? Cause my career feels so small in the existential theme of it all (“Should I stop taking birth control? Because my career looks so small on an existential level”), because it plays with binary terms in its favor.”
The focus on the lyrics of Brat They are also creating a stir that has to do with the thinly veiled references to other artists. The songs are full of trolling, drama, and gossip. Sympathy is a knife supposedly talking about Taylor Swift, who dated for a while Matty Healy, singer of The 1975, the same band in which George Daniel, Charli’s current partner plays drums. “I don’t want to see her in the backstage “At my boyfriend’s concerts, I hope they break up soon,” the lyrics say. The feud dates back to earlier, when Charli described her performance to open Swift’s previous tour as: “Going up on stage and saying hello to five-year-old girls.” The American, for her part, used her power to climb the British charts, on the same dates that the song was released. Bratreleasing for a limited time in the UK the six reissues of The Tortured Poets Department. The move put Swift at the top of the charts, preventing Brat from reaching number one. Charli has asked her fans, known as “angels,” to stop chanting “Taylor is dead” at her concerts, stressing that she will not tolerate that kind of hate at her shows.
But the ambivalent relationship with Lorde is causing even more controversy. It is a recurring joke that the two artists are confused, and Charli’s fans take the bait and ask her to play her live shows. Royals by Lorde. In the cut Girl, so confusing The British woman would speak of her friend and rival: “You write poetry, I throw parties.” Any suspicion of a feud that was going any further was put to rest with the collaboration of both of them in the remix of the same theme. In her version, Lorde admits that she always admired Charli, she would cancel plans she proposed at the last minute because she felt insecure about her image and didn’t want to appear in photos. The original version fantasizes about a collaboration that would revolutionize the networks, and that is what has happened.
But there is something else that explains this obsession with Brat. In our chronic existence on-line The album builds a bridge between digital and club culture. Charli, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, has street references. She started out performing in raves Londoners at the age of fourteen, by the age of 31 he has already experienced MySpace and Tumblr as well as illegal parties in industrial warehouses. sessions packed with unexpected cameos, they make us feel FOMO (the fear of missing out) all over again. And although Brat winks at influencers from Instagram that many consider hateful as Gabbriettehas that element of a friend who pushes you to leave the house and not return until the next morning.
It is thought-provoking that this work bursts onto the scene after multiple months of crisis, wars and political tension. The feverish hedonism that it proposes encourages us to let ourselves go, persuades us of the unnecessary nature of constant optimisation, warns that going out to party also means taking care of ourselves, and whoever is free to criticise should cast the first stone, because any woman can be a bit of a brat at some point. Brat It has undoubtedly been the final blow that has shattered the trend.‘clean girl’, of yoga classes and undetectable makeup to get back those girls with acrylic French manicures and a Bic lighter in their pocket. Is this the confirmation of that vibe shift, that sort of reset or paradigm shift that the Trend hunter Sean MonahanWe will see in the coming months.
In one of the topics, Rewindits author confesses that detail so typical of a diva of the 2000s, which is to call the paparazzi to appear in the media (“everyone does it”). After the success he will enjoy this summer, he will most likely never have to pick up the phone again.
