Ever since June, Charli xcx’s sixth studio album “BRAT” has reinvented pop music and the entire music industry as a whole—even going as far as to influence political campaigns.
With the fluorescent lime green cover artwork, electronic bass lines and heavy production accompanied with Charli’s signature auto tuned vocals, nearly every young college student was “bumping that” in their “brat summer” whether it be online through TikTok dances or at the club.
Charli xcx has been in the music industry for over a decade, performing in nightclubs and securing radio hits like the 2014 track “Boom Clap.”
As detailed in her popular remix, “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde,” Charli xcx has remained mainly an underdog in the industry.
“BRAT” has revitalized her brand notably leading to a 90% sold out The Sweat Tour with Troye Sivan, according to a report from Billboard.
On Oct. 4, Charli xcx posted on her Instagram a billboard collection of dozens of features for a new release, the caption foreshadowing the album title with “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat feat: .”
“Brat and it’s completely different but it’s still also brat” was officially released on Oct. 11 and is packed with unique renditions of some of the most popular songs from this past summer.
The tracklist is the same as the original “BRAT” album but with remixes from a variety of different features and one single from the deluxe version, “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not.”
The shift starts with “Club classics featuring bb trickz” enveloping the listener with a sound familiar to something that would be commonly played at the club with a twist.
“Club classics featuring bb trickz” has an entirely different rhythm compared to the original and speeds up the chorus and features the artist bb trickz rapping in Spanish.
One of the most highly anticipated features on the album “Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande,” added more of a standard pop sound from the original track and Grande’s verse felt forced and underwhelming.
Grande croons in the second verse: “It’s a knife when you know they’re counting on your mistakes / It’s a knife when you're so pretty, they think it must be fake / It’s a knife when they dissect your body on the front page / It’s a knife when they won’t believe you, why should you explain?”
Over the past year, Grande has been under extreme scrutiny over her relationship with Ethan Slater and people even criticized her past relationships and marriage.
She has also been called out for her cultural appropriation of Black and Asian people in addition to accusations of plagiarism, according to the US Weekly.
These lines allude to the allegations Grande has been involved in and she only further victimizes herself.
“I might say something stupid featuring the 1975 and jon hopkins” was sonically refreshing and provided tranquil moments for the listener to experience and reflect on the vulnerable lyrics.
Matty Healy also reflects on his experiences as a celebrity involved in quite recent scandals.
Like Grande, Healy has been subject to criticism from the media from controversial statements made in 2023, according to an Oct. 3 2023, Los Angeles Times article.
The main single promoting the Sweat Tour and this new release, “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” touches on romantic communication and is a fun dance track that reconnects both singers that have formally collaborated on previous songs, “1999” and “2099.”
“Von dutch a.g. cook remix featuring addison rae” is hands-down the best remix that Charli xcx has released from her vault.
Addison Rae and Charli xcx have already collaborated on the 2023 track “2 die 4” and this remix has paved the way for Rae to find her own voice in the industry.
The production is extremely different from the original song, but the vocals are extraordinarily new and refreshing.
Rae’s famous autotuned scream towards the end of the track concluding with the phrase “I’m just living that life” took the internet by storm this summer.
“Rewind featuring bladee” is almost identical to the original if you forget Bladee’s off-key vocals in the second verse.
The faster-paced tracks like the remixed versions of “So I featuring a.g. cook,” “B2b featuring tinashe” and “365 featuring shygirl” kept the momentum going and touched on emotional topics like Charli xcx’s relationship with the late electronic producer SOPHIE.
“Apple featuring the japanese house” doesn’t go unnoticed as a comfortable easy-listening pop song and sounds as if The Japanese House was always meant to be on the track.
Charli xcx concludes the album with the Billie Eilish featured remix on “Guess featuring billie eilish” continuing the carefree and “brat” attitude that she has always embodied.
Probably the most iconic and shocking lyric from the album is when Eilish sings, “Charli likes boys but she knows I’d hit it / Charli, call me if you’re with it.”
While there were many moments that didn’t feel as energetic as I hoped, “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” is a reminder that “brat summer” is not just a season, it’s a lifestyle.
