BRAT: Brat Summer Never Ends

The simplest yet iconic green album cover. Also known as "Brat Green"

Starting off with an album that seems classic yet has so many different twists and a variety of sounds. Brat was an album released during the summer of 2024 and was considered a cultural reset by many. Being signed with Atlantic Records, Charli XCX wrote and produced her sixth studio album Brat. Her partner George Daniel and long-time friend A.G. Cook are just some of the producers on the album alongside herself. Brat originally has 15 tracks starting with the song 360 and ends with the song 365. The album captures the 'club' vibe Charli XCX has mastered and includes different tones of music. Ranging from Club Classics to So I, the album manages to maintain its pop energy yet include a few slower songs for the people who need a break from the club every once in a while. This album took over summer, hence giving it the nickname Brat Summer. Alongside the original studio version, XCX went on to extend the album with Brat and it's the same but there's three more songs so it's not and her remix album Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. XCX said it is one of her most aggressive albums, pushing the electronic sound with pop lyrics to create the perfect album.

Not only does Brat relate to the club, but it also relates to the people going through hardships in life. Friendship breakups are the worst and can hurt people for a while. What XCX did with this breakup was add a track called Girl, so Confusing, which explains never getting a straight answer from a friend. Having enough friendships ended personally, this track really solidified my love for the album. I am someone who loves hardcore club music and can dance to almost anything. When the song Everything is Romantic played in my car for the first time, I swear I almost recreated the iconic line "I crashed my car into a bridge". Although this album has many dance and electronic tracks, the song So I really emphasize that life is not all happy-go-lucky but instead can be painful and hurtful sometimes. This message comes up again on the remix album with the track Everything is Romantic featuring Caroline Polacheck. Throughout the song, the line 'Fall in love again and again' is repeated and talks about Charli's struggles to drugs and feeling empty inside. The song Sympathy is a Knife featuring Ariana Grande is also a real tear-jerker, while keeping its electronic beat. Charli XCX never intended for her album to blow up all over the internet and have this many fans listening to her music. Although this is a dream to many, XCX felt like the criticizing became worse and worse with more listeners. She did this song with Ariana Grande because she knew Ariana could relate to the criticism on woman's body, actions, clothing, and anything else.

Moving onto my personal opinion, I think that this album was beautifully crafted and had so much thought and detail put into it. As someone who was struggling at the beginning of summer, Brat was a perfect escape from reality and helped me build on my mental health. While loving the beats of these songs, the lyrics also spoke to me on a personal level, and I could find myself relating to Charli as she spoke about her problems and insecurities. I still listen to all three versions of the album today and have collected one vinyl variant per version. Overall, on a scale from 1 to 10, I give this album a perfect 10/10. Although many criticize this album, I cannot be one to judge as I have always been a Charli fan and love to see how she implements her life struggles into music for her audiences.