As the flames of “Brat Summer” were breathing their final breaths, Charli xcx threw gasoline on the embers with a new but familiar release, “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.” Not to be confused with its sister album “Brat” released earlier this year, the remix album was produced with a sound almost indistinguishable from the original release and contains new features on every track that are completely foreign to the initial.
The sensation of Charli xcx is anything but overnight. Charli xcx has been conquering charts since 2012 with her timeless summer hit, “I Love It” alongside electronic, synth-pop duo, Icona Pop. However, the success of the producer’s past work is incomparable to the fame and fortune that the summer of 2024 has brought her.
After the roaring success of “Brat,” the only direction for Charli xcx to go was to collaborate with some of the dreamiest artists across multiple genres, showcase vulnerability in unprecedented ways and completely revamp an already considered “club classic” album that branded an entire season and its own color.
With Charli’s consistent partying, boiler room sets and numerous performances of the “SWEAT” Tour coheadlined with longtime bestie Troye Sivan, it is easy to see why she could be tired. Similarly, the dynamic between “Brat” and its twin album could be described as the club’s highs and then the comedown after. The remix album explores many of Charli’s strengths, weaknesses, emotions and inner workings.
Drawing from past collaborative work, her dream team of features on the remix album include Ariana Grande, the 1975, Julian Casablancas, Bon Iver, Caroline Polachek, A. G. Cook and more, not mentioning the already released remakes with Troye Sivan, Lorde and Billie Eilish. On paper, this is one of the most impressive lineups on a project ever released. Each of these artists, some very unexpected, have touched the electronic world in more ways than one.
Charli had teased fans in the past before the remix album had been announced though calculated, cryptic billboards all over the world and her famous “PARTYGIRL” DJ sets held at boiler room events where she sampled the electrifying “365” featuring shygirl, the supporting act for “SWEAT” Tour among excerpts from some of the other new tracks.
Aside from the social media stretching release, “Girl, so confusing,” featuring Lorde that many attribute to Oasis “working it out on the remix,” the most highly anticipated track from the project was the remake of the already cutthroat song that shows even icons have deep-rooted insecurities is “Sympathy is a knife” featuring Ariana Grande. Twisting from jealousy and envy, the newest version of the song explores the backhandedness of society and the inevitable moment when everyone will start preying on the downfall of a powerful woman, which both Ariana and Charli are familiar with.
Collaborating with close friend and “brother,” Matty Healy from The 1975, was not a shocker to anyone by any means. Known for his sharp tongue and lack of filter, it is refreshing to hear him on a track that is about saying “something stupid” and regretting it afterward. Healy and Charli have gotten close over the years, and she is currently engaged to his bandmate on the drums, George Daniel.
“So I” was originally written as an apologetic letter and tribute to late friend, SOPHIE, who was a major influencer of Charli’s past work. With A. G. Cook on the most recent release and more time to heal, the listener is now left reminiscing on “all the good times” on a new spirited beat.
“Mean girls” featuring Julian Casablancas brings an early 2000s, downtown New York vibe to the record. Casablancas is no stranger to experimenting with electronic sounds between his collaborations with iconic duo, Daft Punk, and his own work with the Strokes.
If ethereal was a flavor missing in the original release of the album, Charli served up a four-course meal with Caroline Polachek in “Everything is romantic,” and it has listeners continuing to “fall in love again and again.” This track, contrasting with its predecessor, has a more ominous tone needing reassurance that “everything is still romantic, right?”
For any students who may ask themselves, “When did it get so hard?” find solace in the fact that Charli xcx “thinks about this all the time” and wrote a song with Bon Iver that leaves all her vulnerability unguarded. Iver’s added touch of loneliness and haunting vocals contribute a more experimental and immersive sound that will resonate deeply in any burnt-out soul.
“Club classics” featuring Bb trickz and “B2b” featuring Tinashe are both tracks that tie this album into a proclaimed club record and heighten the energy in any room.
Charli xcx uses “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” to navigate breaking the traditions of pop and generating an album. Its sister is explosive in nature, proving time and time again that she is a lasting figure in the world of pop music. “Brat summer” may be over, but the impact that the album made will last much longer than just a season.