Charli XCX's BRAT is not just an era; it's a testament to the alchemy of pop | Album Review

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Charli XCX's sixth album is a triumph, a masterclass of challenging the alchemy of pop culture. BRAT is vulnerable, nuanced and one of the best albums of the decade.

Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

To understand the origins of Charlotte Aitchison, known as Charli XCX, you must take it decades back. Aitchison debuted on MySpace in 2008 with her mixtake "14" before entering the London rave scene. "I Love It" with Icona Pop, became her first number-one in the UK and received global success. She released a series of albums and mixtapes after that and kept a cool name in the pop atmosphere. She was an underground artist, extremely popular with a queer audience but shadowed from the forefront. One of pop music's most sincere students and songwriters, she's been doing this a long time. A global hit, an experimental pop album, a quarantine record going down in history, and a niche audience. What more could you want? Charli XCX has nothing to prove at this point. And maybe that's the point.

Her last record, "CRASH," was a more conventional and mainstream dance-pop sound, with Charli even labeling it her "major label sell-out" record. But what follows is the complete opposite, a record so un-mainstream but mainstream at the same time. The essence lies in the origin of the artist. Channeling the illegal London rave scene in which she was formed, hyperpop in which she is a veteran, and club-ready hits in which she has written thousands, it captures every single angle of the artistry of its author. Hyperpop-legend producer A.G. Cook (SOPHIE & Beyoncé collaborator, head of the now-closed UK record label PC Music) is the executive producer of the record.

The moment Charli introduced this legendary era, the winter had just turned to spring, beginning with the Boiler Room set in February that broke the company’s event registration record within just hours. In a sweaty, dark Brooklyn warehouse, standing next to BRAT producers Cook, and Finn Keane, both PC music pioneers, alongside her husband, George Daniel, drummer for the UK band The 1975, she debuted the album’s lead single, built to go off, titled "Von dutch", an abrasive club-ready anthem with bass so heavy and hitting, your ass will be shaking, and those panties will drop instantly. Maybe an orgasm will follow, seriously, the mixing of the song is that highly vibrational. "I'm your number one" is repeatedly said back and forth during the chorus, infectious and ready to be printed on a t-shirt. It's a testament to Charli's stance in the cultural sphere of pop. For years before, pop culture critics were obsessed with her position on the pop scale—was she the British darling who remained underground? Or could she possibly excel as a mainstream pop star with the generic fixes of her peers? She challenges the critics on not only 'Von dutch,' but everywhere on BRAT. The perception is the challenge.

Perception is an important theme to BRAT. Perception on partying (I might say something stupid), a synth-pop ballad about belonging. Perception of love (Everything is romantic), the highlight of BRAT, a violin prelude turning into a hard-hitting anthem then back into an emotional outro, giving you a depiction of an adrenaline rush and coming back down from it. Perception of image and fame (Remind), where Charli reflects on her childhood and past as a pop star. Charli slides on Remind saying,

I'd go back in time to when I wasn't insecure

To when I didn't overanalyse my face shape

Nowadays, I only eat at the good restaurants

But, honestly, I'm always thinking 'bout my weight...

I used to never think about Billboard

But, now, I've started thinking again

Wondering 'bout whether I think I deserve commercial success

It's running through my mind

Sometimes, I really think it would be cool to rewind...

Perception of insecurities comes at such a transcending point in the record. "Girl, so confusing," the remix with New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde is another highlight and a genuine applause moment in pop culture. Over bassy synths and twinkly kicks, Charli ponders about her largely speculated battle with singer Lorde, who look similar but feel completely different about each other. And how does the Kiwi respond? An apology, and an offer to collaborate. And so they did. They literally worked it out on the remix. Both singers enter the glitchy production completely raw, tackling friendship, jealousy, body image, and girlhood with grace. It makes for one of the most significant and hopeful moments in pop history and even makes fixing fallen-out friendships a little easier to address. It reenacts a rare peace in an internet oozing with drama, reminiscent of Mean Girls. Speaking of mean girls, there's room for a few of those here on BRAT too. "Mean girls" explores the perception of... exactly that. The singer explores societies' "fascination with mean girls," also referencing BRAT darling Julia Fox. With a death-rattling synth bass and a piano riff gliding ferociously through the bridge, experimentation is not something we shy away from and remains present on the record, considering its author.

And while experimentation is a good thing, there is room for pristine pop anthems all over the record. "Apple," one of the best records of this decade, and amongst Charli's best-written songs, is a sophisticated view of family dynamics and generational trauma. 'Apple' proves that BRAT is not just a regular pop record packed with anthems but a masterclass of its kind, and you will find nuanced and perspective writing from every direction in which you find it. The themes are genuinely endless. On "Apple," Charli says,

I think the apple's rotten right to the core

From all the things passed down

From all the apples coming before

I split the apple down symmetrical lines

And what I find is kinda scary

Makes me just wanna drive

Now, for my final "perception" piece. "I think about it all the time" is another ballad about perception. This time it is a tiny bit different. The placement on a record about 'bumping that' and 'hands up in the club' seems so puzzling, but its clarity is rather significant to the album. "I think about it all the time" is Charli's sonic diary entry about parenting and motherhood. Behind all the partying and growth we ingest in the album from the perspective of a young female pop star, we have to notice its introspection. Charli says,

I went to my friend's place and I met their baby for the first time..

Same old clothes she wore before, holding her child, yeah..

She's a radiant mother, and he's a bеautiful father

And now they both know thesе things that I don't

And they're exactly the same, but they're different now..

And I'm so scared I'm missin' out on something

So, we had a conversation on the way home

Should I stop my birth control?

'Cause my career feels so small

In the existential scheme of it all

BRAT is not just an era; it's a testament to the alchemy of pop. Its pieces on pop culture and navigation as a woman in the music industry will be held in the Lourve, which I am sure. BRAT is Charli's lime green time machine, she thinks about the future and reflects on the past, and the rest is history. What makes this particular record stand out from other pop projects, is its relatability, because a party always needs to have its emotional moment. BRAT is the caricature of a human, so imperfect but so stunning, and it's painted by a genius at ease. You will feel it all, with your hands up the whole time. No music has ever sounded quite like it.

- S

Buy Charli XCX's sixth album BRAT now: Rough Trade