Charli XCX’s newest album, BRAT, has drawn immense popularity, critical acclaim, and has become a defining aspect of Gen Z’s summer 2024, even leading to the renaming of the season to “brat summer.”
Upon the arrival of her eighth studio album, BRAT, on June 7, Charli XCX declared the beginning of Brat Summer. The 15-song album, along with its 18-song deluxe edition, has thrust the artist back into the mainstream spotlight and has had wide-reaching impacts, affecting everything from pop culture to politics.
But what does being “brat” mean anyways? Charli XCX has described “brat” as being volatile, party positive, unafraid, messy, but also honest. Emmie Hund, a senior at Grayslake North, explained in an interview that she likes the upbeat nature of the album and that she appreciates the frequent callbacks to 2000s pop culture, particularly on the song “Von Dutch.” Additionally, Emmie explained that she “appreciates the mindset of being a brat as well, including the rejection of the “clean girl” aesthetic.”
However, perception has not been all-positive. Freshman Max Hund clearly stated his dislike of the album in a recent interview. He believes that the album “has no depth” and “isn’t very entertaining,” even going as far to say that “the album has no good songs.”
The argument that the album does not have much depth has been a popular one for people who dislike the album. However, Charli XCX fans have argued that the album does not necessarily need much lyrical gravitas since its purpose is to just be a fun party album and not a Shakespearean play.
The album itself begins with perhaps its most successful single “360.” The song 360 is a fun, empowering anthem that gets you ready to go out to a club even when you’re listening in the most mundane of environments. After its first two lively, upbeat tracks, the album takes on a much more somber tone lyrically with “Sympathy is a knife”. In this song, the artist describes the insecurities that she feels comparing herself to other successful female pop artists. “Sympathy is a knife” is an interesting song because it takes such a sad, heavy topic and gives it a fun, uplifting beat.
Next is “Von Dutch”, an energetic anthem dedicated to self confidence, seemingly the antithesis of “Sympathy is a Knife”. In the lead single of the album, Charli professes her self-conviction right out the gate with the line “It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me.” “Von Dutch” is a lively track that serves to boost listeners’ confidence.
The song that has had the most success online is “Apple”. Apple blew up on Tiktok in large part because of the viral “Apple” dance. Hearing the chorus of “Apple” once will leave it stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Bringing the album to a close is “365”, a sequel of sorts to 360. The singer’s song, 365 shares many direct call backs to 360, but most notable of which is use of the lyric “bumpin’ that,” which is present throughout “360” and serves as the first lyric in “365”. “365” is an excellent end to the album. It wraps up the previous 14 songs and leaves the listener wanting even more from the artist.
Collaborations and remixes have been a notable aspect of the album’s success as well. The most recent collaboration was “Guess,” featuring Billie Eillish. Earlier in the summer, however, Charli XCX collaborated with Lorde on “Girl, so confusing”. This collaboration quickly met viral success because of the two artists’ alleged past drama. They reference this “drama” on the track and decide to “work it out on the remix.”
This album is fun, energetic, and unapologetic throughout and, in my opinion, there isn’t a single skip throughout its entire 15-track run. Listening to the album in its entirety will leave you with the energy and the expectancy of a fun night out with your friends.
Grayslake North students have a chance to experience BRAT live when Charli XCX performs at the United Center on September 30th with Troye Sivan.
