With its distinctive slime green color and blurry Arial font, the album is instantly recognizable and the tracks on the album are equally as iconic. Throughout the album, Charli analyzes the dichotomy between being a rambunctious party girl on the outside while feeling insecure, lost and sensitive on the inside. This internal conundrum dominates the narrative in the album, eliciting an album that is cohesive in sound but widely diverse in subject matter.
You may recognize Charlotte Aitchison, known by her stage name, “Charli XCX” from songs like “I Love It” with “Icona Pop” and “Fancy” with Iggy Azalea. Her stand-alone song “Boom Clap,” from the movie “The Fault in Our Stars,” was also a smash sensation. Despite her beginnings in these more cookie-cutter pop hits, the album “Brat” is reminiscent of Charli’s DJ days, when she went by the stage name PARTYGIRL and uploaded all her tracks on MySpace.
The album pays homage to the now-deceased producer, SOPHIE, who helped in Charli’s transition to more abstract electropop with textured and maximalist production techniques, which give Charli’s recent records unique and bold sounds.
The album delivers multiple “club classics” with “360” and “365” being the bookends of the album. These club bangers encourage the listener to be “bumping that” and to “don’t eat, sleep, just do it on repeat.” These tracks set the precedent for what it means to embody the brat attitude.
In an interview with Off The Record on TikTok, Charli defined being a brat as “being that girl who is a little messy, who loves to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. She explained the nuance of being a brat by explaining that “she feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown but kind of like parties through it.” The album reflects this attitude of being confident and strong but also insecure and vulnerable on the inside – a sentiment that resonates with many listeners.
“Von Dutch,” also stands out as a staple of the brat attitude. Charli starts out the song by claiming, “It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me” followed by a catchy chorus repeating “I’m your number one.” While the song could just be an anthem to self-confidence, fans analyzed her lyric “Yeah, I heard you talk about me that’s the word on the street.” Many listeners interpreted this lyric as a diss towards a specific person, such as Rina Sawayama, Camilla Cabello or FKA twigs; however, Charli has not confirmed who the song is about. Regardless, the low stretching bass sounds and synth-anchored beat make the song both addicting and empowering.
Alongside the electronic production of the album, Charli intentionally juxtaposes the upbeat, electronic instrumentation with lyrics that are vulnerable and gripping. For example, “Rewind” reflects the nostalgia many women experience of wishing they could go back to the times when things were simpler and weight and face shape did not matter. In addition, “Sympathy is like a knife” discusses insecurity and jealousy. The song is fueled with resentment, for herself and others. Charli states, “I’d say there was a God if they could stop this wild voice tearing me apart.” These electronic ballads reveal a more vulnerable side to the singer that the world may not be as familiar with following her previous releases.
Charli also explores topics that can often be difficult to tackle. While the track “Apple” is known for its viral TikTok dance, this song explores the concept of intergenerational trauma through its lyricism and imagery of an “apple” that is “rotten to the core from all the apples before.” On this track, Charli, an Indian-Scottish woman, analyzes the impact of living in a post-colonial society and its detrimental effects on mental health in British-Indian communities.
However, “Girl, so confusing” serves as the“pièce de résistance” of the album. This track became particularly popular when Lorde hopped on the track to “work it out on the remix” with her in “The girl, so confusing version with Lorde.” While not on the original “Brat” album, this remix
“Girl, so confusing” was originally a song about falling out with a friend, but still craving for that relationship. Fans speculated who the song could be about and within two weeks they had their answer as Lorde delivered a heartbreaking verse about her struggle with mental health, body image and self-isolation as a coping mechanism.
She reveals, “I was so lost in my head and scared to be in your pictures / Because for the last couple years, I’ve been avoiding my body.” Her lyrics act as an apology as she did not realize that her reclusion was unintentionally hurting Charli. At the end of her verse, she acknowledges, “I forgot that inside that icon [Charli] / there’s still a young girl from Essex.” The song is now an ode to forgiveness, communication and understanding in female friendships.
After the initial success of the album, Charli XCX released a new album titled, “Brat and it’s the same but there are three more songs so it’s not.” This album, as the title suggests, includes three new songs that explore the different facets of Charli’s identity. “Hello goodbye” describes Charli’s struggles with anxiety, insecurity and confrontation.
Charli describes her anxious thoughts by stating, “Now I’m all up in my head, replaying all my worst regrets,” which many fans find relatable and tangible.
However, in Charli fashion, the album still features club bangers, “Guess” and “Spring Breakers” – songs that demand to be blasted at full volume. These three additional songs speak volumes of Charli’s versatility and creativity.
Charli XCX’s bold and mesmerizing album is accompanied by a genius marketing technique, i.e., using an uncommon color and grainy font for its cover, making it simplistic but eye-catching. To solidify the marketing, Charli changed all of the cover art on her albums on Spotify and Apple Music to include the same grainy Arial font and installed a “Brat” wall in Brooklyn to further advertise her work. Many companies and businesses have emulated the album in ads and TikToks. Devoted fans and followers have shown their support for Charli XCX by changing their profile pictures to match the album. The influx of “Brat” content on the internet played a massive role in the success of the album.
Across the internet, people are referring to summer 2024 as “Brat Summer,” coined after singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s sixth album, “Brat.” The album surged in popularity on the internet and peaked in the United States and United Kingdom sales.
Alongside its commercial success, the album accumulated a massive following of hype and excitement. Charli’s sixth album is a breakthrough album for the singer, charting at no. 3 in the U.S. and beckoning in a new era – “brat summer.”
“Brat” sets a powerful and charismatic tone for the summer of 2024, including both party songs to dance to and relatable electronic ballads to cry to. Its unique sound, vivid lyricism and definable aesthetic make it an early frontrunner for album of the summer.