Review: BRAT by Charli xcx
8.5/10 - TOP NEW MUSIC
Being ahead of the times is hard, but Charli xcx is in her best form as the world is finally catching on.
Like she says on BRAT, she is not about writing poems but instead about throwing parties. Throughout her career, Charli xcx has always been the great outlier in pop. Making music that was meant to be played at raves and niche venues. She took a little break from her niche sounds on her last album, Crash. Utilizing her labels A&R for the first time, she made a record that showed us what Charli would sound like if she gave in to the norms of the music industry. Ironically, Crash performed extremely well on the charts, but lacked the Charli touch and the oomph that her albums have usually supplied. On BRAT, Charli returns in full form and transcends past anything she has done before to deliver her career best record.
360 sets the foundation for the record - this is for the IT girls, and throughout the record, the music slowly and whimsically unravels what it means to be a woman and celebrates womanhood in pop culture. The compressed brilliance of Talk talk and Von dutch shows she can make a radio hit while still being honest to her sound. Even with the whimsical sheen of synth loops, Charli xcx has never been more vulnerable. On I might say something stupid and I think about it all the time she explores themes of feeling out of place at parties, the world of being a celebrity, and wondering if her career is big enough to stop her from focussing on her personal life. So I is a teary tribute to peer and collaborator, Sophie and it is executed with so much poise and warmth while still flowing perfectly in the album. In BRAT, Charli parties and dances and lets her guard down but never for a second, misses a beat. Apple utilizes some of the best fruit allegory I have heard in a song and repetition has never sounded more interesting than it does on B2b. The album closer 365 is a culmination of sounds from the whole album and probably one of the best songs on the record, perfectly encapsulating Charli’s intention with BRAT.
What Charli has done on this record is nothing short of momentous, and what makes BRAT even more special is that this is the authentic Charli, she has lived this life and she has progressed in this sound, and she is finally here to receive her flowers. The outlier of pop is finally showing the world that she was always ahead of the game, we are just finally catching up.
