**This volume is dedicated to brat and brat only. Cheers to the album of the summer**
It’s June, it’s pride month, and thankfully hyper pop is here to feed us this summer!
This week I’ll only be covering Brat and Brat +3 more songs because it’s just that good. I had a strong feeling about this album once she announced it, and it did not disappoint. As always, queer folks were ahead of their time by stanning Charli XCX, and this album will be the one to finally give her her flowers, as she deserves.
BRAT
Charli XCX has blessed us with another studio album, which I would argue is her best work yet. Brat is just right. Charli does club music and hyper pop best, along with her producer AG Cook. From a lyrics standpoint, this album is quite the rollercoaster of emotions. It’s serious, it’s deep, it’s vulnerable, yet it’s also raunchy, and sometimes unserious with her on-brand themes about vrooming and zooming in the car.
I’ll spare you from my full album review song-by-song, but I love how as I listened to each song I could imagine a perfect situation for the song to be played and enjoyed. I sincerely hope the drag queens use songs from this album, as so many of them have great beats for a fierce pump and fire choreography.
Before we get into my favorites, I want to start with ‘360,’ the lead single from the album and the first track of the song. When ‘360′ was released, I was unsure how this album was going to come together. So imagine my surprise when the album released and I saw ‘360’ was the first track. I typically always enjoy the first song on an album, but this one ultimately fell short for me. It has grown on me and I don’t hate it, but it’s not my favorite. At least we got an iconic music video out of it though!
Anyways, here are my favorites:
1. Talk Talk
At first listen, I wasn’t really vibing with this song. Thankfully, it has grown on me and has made it into my top tracks from the album. It’s fun and bubbly, and the outro is cute and catchy. Something about the chorus is giving me K-POP vibes for some reason, and I admit I don’t have anything to really back that comparison up. ‘Talk Talk‘ is most similar to the vibe of her past album, Crash, in my opinion, which I’m not mad at, but I think if it was on that album it easily could’ve been the star of that project.
2. Von Dutch
Von Dutch was an immediate 10 across the board when it was released as a single, including the version with the pop princess in training, Addison Rae. I can’t wait to see this live. It’s reminiscent of Charli’s most notable feature on a single, ‘I Love It’ with Icona Pop, and I think that formula works well for her each and every time. One could even say that Von Dutch is the 2020s ‘I Love It.’
3. Everything is Romantic
This song immediately stood out to me on first listen. By now we should know how much I enjoy a song with dynamic production, so this is naturally going to be right up my alley. The orchestra in the background of the beginning of the song? 10/10. I’m also getting cheer music vibes from the “laser” sounds utilized in this, which isn’t bad, I laughed though. This individual song accomplishes so much in a short amount of time, incorporating many different elements while still progressing really well in a comprehensive way. Unfortunately, not everyone will get this song so it’s definitely going to be a love it or hate it track. It just might be my favorite on the album though!
4. B2b
I love how Charli’s voice is used in tandem with the beat on this song, almost blending into the background with the actual instrumentals, allowing them to take a more prominent position in the listening experience. This is something I really enjoyed on CHIHIRO by Billie Eilish and FINNEAS as well. That’s what makes it a perfect song for dancing in the club!
5. Mean Girls
To me, ‘Mean Girls‘ is the titular song on the album. Mean girls quite literally are… bratty. And the few lyrics of this song are just that. I love the production on this song too, the baseline is great, the pianos that come in midway through the song? No notes. For people who are lyrics listeners over music listeners, this song probably isn’t going to land high in your favs list. There aren’t many lyrics or bars in this song, it’s pretty repetitive but that’s what gives it it’s classic pop music edge.
6. 365
‘365‘ ties the album all together with a pretty bow and some sparkles. Using the same beat from ‘360,’ the first track of the album, but remixing it, was a nice touch to add some continuity to the project. It truly is encapsulating the clubbing and partying experience in one track, from the club beat & instrumentals at the end, to the lyric:
“Should we do a little key? Should we do a little line?”
Actually, now having heard ‘365,’ it makes me appreciate and enjoy ‘360’ a bit more.
Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not
The great thing about this project is that the “deluxe” version has already been released with 3 additional songs that the girls, gays, and theys desperately were thirsting over after Charli teased snips of ‘Spring Breakers’ on social media.
I also was awaiting ‘Spring Breakers‘ release of these additional 3 tracks she gave us, but ‘Guess‘ really caught me by surprise.
‘Guess‘ is sexy and raunchy while giving us the perfect bassline for music to get ready to or to be played at the club while you’re dancing with someone and it’s getting steamy. It’s very sultry, feeling-myself=energy which I enjoy. This is a top contender for my Top 5 most played songs of the year. I fully intend to listen to this as many times as possible, similar to my approach with ‘Yuck’ from Charli’s 2022 album, Crash.
‘Spring Breakers‘ ate down from the very beginning of the song. A high-energy song that will go crazy at her live performances, when played at the bar or the club, or while working out. I hope she releases a music video for this song, it has incredible “cult favorite” potential.
I’ve been seeing lots of love for Brat all over TikTok, including a lot of straights who were put on to certain songs and loving them. As always, not everyone will get it, but people want to dance and want to feel something, and Brat definitely delivers that.
Charli is such an important mentor to the young pop princesses and pop interns who are looking to learn a thing or two about creating your lane and being differentiated with confidence, regardless of what everybody else is doing. Charli loves to say she’s “ahead of her time,” and after hearing this album I have to agree with her. She deserves to talk her shit for this album. 10/10 for Brat!!
THE IDENTITY CRISIS 