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AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Hi everyone, BRATthony Greeentano
here,
the internet's busiest music nerd.
And it's time for a review
of this new record "Brat" from Charli xcx.
Here we have the 6th official full-length
studio album from pop-singer and
songwriter Ms Charli xcx.
One of my most anticipated albums of
the year, why?
Well, over the past decade in my eyes,
Charli has grown into one of the most
creative, unique, and pioneering forces
in current day pop music.
And her evolution has been interesting
to watch, to say the least.
I'm not a fan of her early work,
truth be told, but
today it serves as an interesting
reference point.
Uh, for what she is doing on this
record.
The "True Romance" and "Sucker" eras of
her career, uh, did bring some of
her biggest hits and features to date,
that is true,
but sonically, much of the music she was
dropping around this time wasn't...
very daring or even deep.
At best, you could say it was catchy
and of-the-time.
Around the mid-2010s, though,
is when Charli's music
really began to push boundaries.
Crossing over creatively with writers and
producers from the
up-and-coming PC music label.
I'm talking people like Danny L Harle
and EASYFUN, A.G Cook,
and the late SOPHIE,
who at the time were gaining
quite the reputation for
revitalizing a lot of Y2k-era pop
aesthetics but with a
hyper-futuristic, jittery sound.
And our first taste of this new direction
came in the form of
Charli xcx's "Vroom Vroom" EP in 2016.
Which some critics just did not know what
to make of at the time,
and while it was my EP of the year
that year,
I could still see how this would have
turned a lot of people off if they
came into Charli's music having certain
expectations,
given that she was a pop artist.
Because "Vroom Vroom" in tone, is,
at points, kind of dark, and visceral
and groovy in a weird way.
Campy, too, with some tracks varying so
wildly from part to part that,
uh, you could almost take what she was
doing here as, like, a joke or novelty.
However, the tracks on this EP are
deadly serious.
And were also a new, bold step for
pop music as well as in a hot moment,
for both Charli and PC Music creatively.
Because at this point, I think Charli became
the perfect conduit for what they were
trying to channel this detailed and
retro-futuristic, reconstruction
of 2000s pop music, that blur the lines
between the satirical,
but also reverent.
Meanwhile, Charli's creative chemistry
with A.G and SOPHIE
allowed her, I think, to experiment more
and mature as a songwriter.
Allowing her the freedom to drop
zany bangers as well as
sleek-powerful anthems.
Songs with strange structures, or very
unlikely features,
A lot of these ideas and concepts were
more or less road-tested on
the mixtape she dropped back in 2017,
and then in my eyes, it was all
fully realized on her excellent 2019
"Charli" record.
Now, over the years, as Charli has
developed this new sound,
her writing has offered more depth,
has become more personal and intimate,
especially on her pandemic album,
"How I'm Feeling Now".
But I think Charli's writing has grown
more conceptual, too.
With her presentation as this posh,
English party girl on many of her songs
has more or less become this exaggerated
character she plays into.
However, in a way, Charli's instantly
recognizable sound and unique place
in the pop landscape, uh, became both a
blessing and a curse at the dawn of the 2020s.
Because her style had gone from
challenging to kind of definable
with this newly-minted "hyperpop"
term that was being thrown onto everybody
who sounded even vaguely like her or
100gecs.
And she quickly went on to strip away
many of the "hyper" characteristics
of her music on her next album, "Crash",
working with a totally new team of producers
And while I can't deny the record does
feature some respectable hits,
I have to ask: At what cost?
Because "Crash" did very measurably have
quite a bit less character than
anything that Charli had dropped
in recent years at the time
Which brings us to today. Charli's
latest album cycle here, "BRAT".
Where I think she's genuinely reconnecting
with the trajectory that has brought her
to this point and made her a special artist
to begin with.
Even EASYFUN and A.G Cook are back
in the mix on this production side,
on a whole lot of tracks, uh, numerous
others too.
There are even references to A.G Cook
on some of the lyrics to this record
as quite a bit of meta-commentary
is going on as well.
You can really tell that Charli is fully
embracing the impact she's had on pop music
in recent years, and really using it as
more of a strength than a weakness
that she can be pigeon holed into.
And I think that's something she can
do confidently because
her and A.G Cook aren't just merely
trying to, y'know,
revive some kind of hyperpop trend on
this LP.
I mean, for sure, Charli's goal and focus
is to give us this autotuned, bold,
and hard-hitting homage to 2000s era
pop music,
but this time around we have a refreshing
focus on dance-pop, on EDM from that era,
on electropop from that era, club bangers
generally.
With a pretty aggressive edge, making this
LP very worthy of the title "BRAT".
Because this record is meant to be
danced to.
And, at points, cry to.
As I think Charli's writing is more mature
and thoughtful than it's ever been.
For one, her party girl persona takes
a bit of a dark turn,
or at least gets deflated a bit
as she reveals that it's kind of a
mask,
and that she doesn't always feel
like she's worthy of being there at the party
or that her and the party are a bit
at odds.
Meanwhile, "i think about it all the time"
sees Charli musing about whether or not
she can continue her career in the way
she currently is,
while also becoming a mother, which she
very clearly has interest in at some point.
Skipping ahead here, it's also kind of
crazy how narratively, this contrasts so hard
with her going back full into party mode
on the closing track, "365".
Of course, there are notes of nostalgia
on this album, too, that is very much
in line with tracks like "1999", most
notably on "Rewind",
but this song specifically is more about
Charli missing the older aspects
of her life before the fame.
Between sticky choruses on this track,
she delivers her verses in this way that
kinda comes off like, conflicted internal
monologue, or like
she's musically journaling.
There are lots of tracks on this thing too
that deal in love.
But these songs narratively feel vastly
different from previous singles like
"Good Ones", for example.
Tracks where historically, Charli can be
seen running away from love
or being a bit self-effacing and talking
about how she's fucking it all up.
Instead, on songs such as the really
infectious
singing "Talk talk to me!"
as, uh, as well laughs
as the very cinematic
singing "Everything is romantic"
Yeah, Charli can be seen accepting
love and doing quite a few shoutouts
to her fiancé George.
But yes, between this and numerous nods
to wanting to have maybe a more normal
life at some point, Charli really presents
some interesting internal conflicts
throughout this album, which we also
hear as well on tracks where she is
singing about things like friendship
and sharing the limelight with other women.
I mean, historically Charli is very
pro-woman,
especially when it comes to supporting
other artists with her music
through features, through attention she
can throw their way with her creativity
I mean, even look at the lyrics in the
music video to one of the big singles
from this record, "360".
That is the Charli that most fans
know and love.
By that same token, there are
numerous songs on this record
where she is being very unfiltered
and just admitting
how, just, insecure and plagued with
fear she is sometimes.
There's "Sympathy is a knife" where she
talks about, just, being so
self-conscious around this other woman
that she wishes for
a gun to shoot herself with.
Which is context that some fans might
even miss if they're mostly wrapped up
in the roaring bass and fantastic string
hits going on the dance beat.
There's also "GIrl, so confusing" where
Charli sings about the difficulties
of letting people in, and navigating
the music industry among other
people who she may have a difficult
time connecting with,
knowing how to trust.
The song seems to be very specifically
about a single person who
maybe she's been likened to by fans
but she doesn't fully see it.
However, there's still a desire there
on some level to make the friendship
or the connection work.
Then the song "Von dutch" sees Charli
getting pretty aggressive and
combative lyrically.
Specifically in regards to someone who
doesn't seem to like her,
maybe even is talking behind her back.
And her response to that is, essentially,
this big anthemic "Fuck you" here.
Where she's delivering some biting lyrics
about how this person may actually be
nothing if it weren't for some
"little dance" they're doing.
So, yeah, there are these intense
emotional peaks all over the album
but the biggest bombshell of all of them
has to be the song, "So I".
Which is very obviously a tribute to the
late great producer and songwriter SOHPIE
who actually collaborated with Charli
quite a few times,
so consistently, in fact, from an outside
perspective, I don't think any fan of either
Charli or SOPHIE would have presumed
anything of them and their connection.
Other than something along the lines of,
"Hey, they're collaborators, they have
big respect for each other, they
love each other,
they're probably friends,
Charli, SOHPIE, SOPHIE, Charli,
name a more iconic duo-"
But what Charli says on this track here
actually tells a very different story
and is quite revealing in a way that
is actually pretty admirable.
Because the angle of the song is,
yes, very sad, obviously,
but it doesn't necessarily paint Charli
in the best light.
And, again, it's painfully sad and
has made me reflect on the tone
that tributes in art or whatever
other medium often take.
They usually end up being less about
the tributed person
and more about the tributer's love and
adoration.
"Look how great I think this person
is, who we all think is great."
And Charli's song here does contain
quite a bit of praise for SOHPIE
that's true, don't get me wrong.
But a lot of the track is actually an
admittance on Charli's part, with her
pretty much saying, "I was a shitty
friend."
"I kinda pushed this person away. I wish
I didn't."
"And now, I am plagued with an
insurmountable amount of regret."
Which does make it a really tough listen
even if I think instrumentally and
melodically it is one of the strongest
showings here.
Narratively and emotionally there are
quite a few cuts that I think are
a bit lighter in tone, but they still
contribute a great amount of quality to
the record and are just generally
fun and entertaining to listen to.
There's "Club classics", which I thought
was hands down an incredible single to
the album. Also, "B2b", which is just some
very straightforward, cut and dry,
throwback, quality dance pop with a pretty
clear hot and cold, back and forth
love on the rocks type narrative
There's also "Apple", which is some
very groovy throwbacks synthpop too.
All about a situation and dynamic that
Charli likens to a rotten apple,
it's a situation she describes having to
escape from by car or by plane,
There's "Mean girls", which is a
character portrait about exactly that,
with a soaring and anthemic chorus
plus a killer piano break
that the entire track builds off of
from there.
And then at the very end there's
"365", which is this
version of the song "360" that kicks
the record off, this
mirrored, remix-as-reprise big finish.
With some acid bass mixed in there
for good measure.
So, I love the way the record finishes.
Love the way it kicks off,
and the flow from moment to moment
generally is great.
It's to the point where certain tracks
in the leadup to the record