This is part 2 of a review of the Charli XCX album BRAT. Read the first part -here-.
I first chose to write about BRAT on an impulse two weeks after it had come out. Sure, I knew a few friends who had already given it praise, but I had a gut feeling that it would become something bigger, something iconic. Yet, I was also on a highway about to head into the woods for a month, where I would be in complete isolation and without any way to know if my instinct was right. Regardless, I began hastily typing away on my phone my thoughts immediately after listening, re-listening—in other words, on repeat. Then, I plunged into darkness and started to live a healthy, fulfilling life.
That, of course, didn’t last long, and after some weeks I emerged acutely feeling my newfound ignorance of all the BRAT buzz that had generated in my media absence. Donald Trump had been shot, yet only BRAT was on my mind. I asked everyone I knew about it: some were showing me Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos from the Twisters cast dancing to “Apple,” while others were telling me they had no idea what this “brat” phenomenon was about. Had it caught on? Were people having a brat summer? Did people no longer reconcile, but instead “work it out on the remix”? Most importantly, was I right?
All these questions swirled my mind as more and more history was being made. The Republican National Convention was ongoing. Biden’s peers pressured him to drop out of the race. The 2024 Olympics were about to begin. But did BRAT just happen to coincide with one of the most eventful times in recent history, or did these events coincide with BRAT? I needed to know, but found no answer. BRAT, whispering sweet nothings and blaring high-energy hyperpop into my ear, was my only solace where all else seemed hopeless.
Used by https://x.com/KamalaHQ.
However, some days later, Kamala Harris’ campaign kicked off, with a BRAT-inspired banner adorning the campaign Twitter account. People began making Kamala/BRAT shirts and wearing them to campaign rallies. Coconuts and “brat green” became forever intertwined through social media edits. “Kamala’s so JULIA ,” people shouted from the rooftops. Nowhere was safe; eyewitness accounts revealed to the Grizzly that local greenery may have turned slightly limer out of solidarity or possibly fear. Mother Nature declined to comment on this specific claim, but altogether it appeared as if society was uniting around BRAT to champion the times.
Or, BRAT had united society under its energizing influence. Especially potent in capturing my eye was the Lorde version of “Girl, so confusing,” which was released soon after the album’s full release. While it was already notable for rekindling Lorde and Charli’s working relationship through song, itself a beautiful addition to the annals of music, it had soon become my favorite out of the whole bunch as well. It was not only endlessly catchy but superbly written also, and what is great music if not that? “She believed my projection/And now I totally get it/Forgot that inside the icon/There’s still a young girl from Essex,” encapsulates the BRAT experience, of striving towards icon status and projecting yourself as an unfeeling deity among anxious, flawed people, all the while coping with your humanity and being allowed none of the emotional releases that come with it.
However, it also set the stage for more high-profile collaborations within the BRAT world. August began with “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish, the #1 artist on Spotify by monthly listeners at the time of writing. Billie, whose album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT saw no shortage of success, had nonetheless not debuted atop Billboard 200 for the first time, “only” reaching #2; BRAT had similarly peaked just behind it at #3. The Losers’ Club couldn’t be deterred so easily, however, and their provocative remix of “Guess” was the result. Billie and Charli, each having created two of the most experimental pop albums of the year, seemed committed to pushing the envelope even further with lyrics like, “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it” (whereas if this was a Taylor Swift song, my jaw would hit the floor). Yet, it’s no surprise that Billie, one of Gen Z’s premier trailblazers and most beloved artists, did what she does best and made waves, joining forces with Charli to lead the newest musical era.
BRAT’s success continued as the summer came to a close, though the end of time at the top of the world is all too soon, as recognized by Charli in her Tweet, “goodbye forever brat summer.” With new highly-anticipated albums releasing such as Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, and with the beginning of many a tour by artists including Charli XCX (with Troye Sivan) and Billie Eilish, it’s time for the era to come to an end, however enjoyable it has been. But, I know not to cry because it’s over, but instead smile because it happened. And because I was right.
