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Charli XCX Extends the Brat Summer at Coachella
Since the release of her sixth album, Brat, in June 2024, British pop star Charli XCX has ignited a cultural phenomenon. The album, already hailed as one of the year’s best, sparked the “Brat Summer” trend, evolving into a fashion, societal, and even political movement. At the Coachella festival, the artist set the stage ablaze, performing in underwear and reaffirming the enduring appeal of this aesthetic.EW.com+2
Charli XCX’s Brat: One of the Best Albums of 2024
In 2022, the 32-year-old British singer and hyperpop princess completely failed with the album Crash: sugary bubblegum pop to the point of overdose.
But with Brat, her latest album released on June 17, 2024, Charli XCX takes a new direction and makes people forget the accident. A tribute to underground culture and the London rave scene (where the singer grew up), Brat—which could be translated as “bad kid”—chooses to return to less mainstream and sanitized sounds.
Produced by A. G. Cook, Easyfun, Hudson Mohawke, and Gesaffelstein, the hyperpop, electroclash, pop, acid house, and dance songs leave plenty of room for boldness and experimentation. Brat is also packed with hits like 360 (featuring a wild music video featuring It girls Julia Fox and Chloë Sevigny), Von Dutch, and Mean Girls.
Produced by A. G. Cook, Easyfun, Hudson Mohawke, and Gesaffelstein, the hyperpop, electroclash, pop, acid house, and dance songs leave plenty of room for boldness and experimentation. Brat is also packed with hits like 360 (featuring a wild music video featuring It girls Julia Fox and Chloë Sevigny), Von Dutch, and Mean Girls.
The Girl, So Confusing slap remixed with Lorde
Brat also shines with her lyrics, evoking grief, harassment suffered by famous women, anxiety, love, desire, femininity, rivalry and self-esteem.
In “Girl, So Confusing,” Charli XCX directly explores her complicated relationship with another woman in the music industry: singer Lorde. This allusion in the opening track gives rise to a spectacular remix of the title accompanied by the singer. The two stars evoke their bittersweet bond, between rivalry, friendship, and respect, against a backdrop of devastating synthpop. Meanwhile, “Sympathy is a Knife” could be a reference to Taylor Swift. All of pop culture is covered…
Brat’s minimalist cover art heralded the artist’s risk-taking. Rawer and more fragile than usual, Charli XCX uses the trappings of pop’s “bad girl” on this album to reveal a rawer, more melancholic, diary-like quality, as seen on the track “Everything is Romantic,” which stands out as one of the most addictive tracks of 2024.
Charli xcx – 360 (2024).
Is the “Brat Summer” trend dead?
With this complex and invigorating album, which the singer describes as “the most aggressive and confrontational of her career,” but also the most “vulnerable,” the mischievous Charli XCX places herself at the top of the list of the most exciting artists of the year. And of the era. Like Rosalía did with Motomami (2022), she redefines the aesthetic and musical canons of the moment.
This summer, all the girls (and boys, like actor Kyle MacLachlan who filmed himself singing Charli XCX) will want to be Brats (the anti-tradwifes/clean girls) and dress in neon green while brandishing one of the album’s best punchlines: “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia” (in reference to the omnipresent Julia Fox).
Indeed, with this new album, Charli XCX has launched a real phenomenon: the “Brat Summer”. The singer even revealed (to the BBC) the essentials to take in your suitcase to dive into the trend: a pack of cigarettes (which we remind you are dangerous), a BIC lighter and a white tank top without a bra.
Charli xcx – Guess (2024) featuring Billie Eilish.
A brilliant duet with Billie Eilish
Add a leather miniskirt, futuristic glasses, Miista boots, a stroke of XXL eyeliner, and a Y2K-inspired dress. The key words? A certain disorder, an uninhibited state of mind, and a lot of self-confidence and freedom. A delightful program…
Except that a few weeks later, the color green and choreographed dances to the rhythm of Charli XCX’s song Apple are everywhere, from Linkedin posts to the social networks of Kamala Harris supporters. One Instagram account, in particular, took up the codes of the album to fight against the RN’s arrival in power, before the last elections.
Even more insane, a sausage advertising campaign is riding the wave of the trend. It didn’t take much for the prestigious media outlet Pitchfork to grandly declare, “Brat Summer is dead.” Too many memes would have killed the Pantone 3507C shade meme.
That was without counting on the mischievousness and talent of Charli xcx. A few days after this article, the singer released a remix of her song Guess (2024) with a special guest: Billie Eilish. In the delirious and sexy video that accompanies the song, the two pop stars are drowning in underwear (10,000 pieces of lingerie that were then donated to I Support the Girls, an organization distributing basic necessities to the homeless). And the web, under the overexcited comments. So it’s a safe bet that August will be as bratty as July…?
Charli XCX et Troye Sivan – Talk talk (2024)
Talk Talk, a shock duo with Troye Sivan
After a summer punctuated by Charli XCX’s irreverence, some might have expected the phenomenon to take a bow as the temperatures cooled. A tweet, posted by Charli XCX on September 2, 2024, launched more than one internet user onto this track. “Forever, Brat Summer.” A farewell that the singer quickly cut short. The next day, the singer indeed published another tweet, a photo of herself this time with her longtime collaborator (and friend!), Troye Sivan. Against a pink background, the two artists sport white tank tops, with the inscription across the chest: “About f***ing time! / Il était f**ain de temps!”
A rumor is circulating about this famous T-shirt: anyone wearing it is involved in a new Brat edition. Paris Hilton, Madonna, Hayley Williams (Paramore), and even Pink Panthers have all been recently spotted in similar tank tops… Is Charli XCX about to make our wildest dreams come true?
Meanwhile, Troye Sivan is the next artist canonized in a Brat remix. Following Addison Rae, Robyn, and Billie Eilish before him, he can be heard on a reinterpretation of the track Talk Talk, carried by wild bass. A great return for this duo, already seen on the track 1999 (2018), an ode to Y2k fashion enhanced by a touch of irony. Dua Lipa is also part of the party: she whispers into the microphone in French and Spanish at the beginning and end of the track, her voice sublimated by the club atmosphere of the remix.
What is the post-Brat made of?
Will we ever see a post-Brat? Charli XCX is far from having said her last word. On September 12, she became one of the faces of H&M’s new fall/winter collection, alongside Sega Bodega, Loli Bahia, Arca, Lila Moss, and Sage Elsesser. Described as “bold, modern, and refined,” the collection features a range of patterns and references, partly inspired by the timeless charm of Hollywood cinema.
This date also marks another big news for the British singer. With a post featuring the same script as the Brat cover, Charli XCX announced that a Brat remix album is about to be released. It bears the (modest!) title Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Grammy Awards, remixes, Coachella… Charli XCX’s reign continues
This new edition features all the remixes released so far, plus previously unreleased versions of Brat songs. It features eclectic collaborations with Caroline Polachek, Shygirl, Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Addison Rae, Robyn, Bb Trickz, Bon Iver, and Tinashe.
After that, Charli XCX was awarded several Grammy Awards at the ceremony held on February 2, 2025. And a few days later, on March 1, 2025, she won at the Brit Awards, winning the award for Best Artist of the Year 2024.
Another coup? Chali XCX just set the Coachella festival ablaze with a high-octane performance. The singer invited several other pop superstars to join her: Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Troye Sivan. The result? A delirious crowd capturing the moment with their cell phones.
Finally, we’ll soon see the star in several films (Sacrifice) and festivals (We Love Green) in 2025. She’ll even be hosting her own festival in Victoria Park, London, on June 14, with some stellar guests: Gesaffelstein, 070 Shake, and Yseult. Beef, the anti-Brat trend, has become a real trend, and it’s even one of the most persistent.
Brat (2024) de Charli XCX, disponible. Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat de Charli xcx, disponible.
