Charli xcx’s sixth full-length LP, BRAT, seamlessly blends hyperpop, traditional pop, and UK electronic influences to deliver a spectacular set of summer anthems to a broader audience than hyperpop has been privy to since its inception.
The record is produced in large part by A.G. Cook, the pioneering British DJ largely regarded as the creator of the hyperpop subgenre, who has recently released Britpop, his 4th full length project. The long time friend and collaborator’s sonic fingerprints can be found throughout the record’s instrumentals, from the pulse-raising kick drums on Everything is romantic to the soaring synth lines on Von dutch and Mean girls. The combination of this boundary-pushing production and Charli’s knack for catchy refrains and strikingly relatable storytelling births an album that is simultaneously unique and classically on brand for the 31-year old popstar.
The album sets a triumphant tone from its very outset, with two of Charli’s singles, 360 and club classics. Whilst both singles see the British singer-songwriter revelling in her own success and trendsetter status in pop culture, the two could not come from more different ends of the pop music sonic landscape. 360 features much less prominent percussion, with a keyboard riff providing the lion’s share of the instrumental. On the other hand, Club classics picks up the pace with a far higher BPM and rhythmic, repetitive vocals evoking a sense of UK garage influence.
Having released 4 hit singles prior to the album’s release (the two mentioned above, as well as von dutch and b2b), most listeners would be expecting to have heard the majority of the star power on the album. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Frankly, Charli could have picked almost any of these tracks as her lead single and landed a radio hit. By the time the first half of the album is complete, Charli has followed up her singles with hits like Sympathy is a knife, Talk talk, and Everything is romantic.
These hits set a relentless pace for the album, but not at the cost of variety or substance. Talk talk follows the story of the infancy of her and fiancée George Daniel’s romance, recounting a relatable tale of the push and pull between fear of rejection and unrelenting attraction. Sympathy is a knife sees Charli exploring her insecurities and her struggles with comparing herself to other women, a topic that almost anyone can relate to. She doesn’t cease exploring new themes there though, with Everything is romantic exploring her fascination with the beauty of Italian culture and landscapes. The sprawling thematic nature of these tracks, however, does not come across as unfocused but as a reflection of the vast array of ideas and concerns amassed by humans by the time they enter their 30s.
These lyrical musings never come at the cost of replay value, as best shown by tracks like Girl, so confusing and B2b. Whilst both tracks in the latter stages of the album tackle challenging concepts of unhealthy competition and ex-lovers respectively, the rhythmic hook of B2b and catchy synth line in girl so confusing will have listeners coming back for weeks on end.
In arguably the most ambitious moment of an already extravagant album, Mean girls sees Charli and A.G blending an abrasive hyperpop instrumental with a piano interlude that continues even as the blaring bass lines return for the final chorus. Even this deep into the latter half of the album, Charli is still taking risks sonically and lyrically, discussing the hypothetical story of a mid-20s partygoer that she labels as “New York City’s darling”, who is rumoured to be anorexic but “likes when people say it”. This daring track represents everything great about the record: its ability to tackle challenging and complex concepts from an empowering perspective, its ground-breaking production, and repetitive refrains that leave the listener in a trance.
Charli digs deeper into her introspective bag with slower songs such as So I, I might say something stupid, and I think about it all the time. In So I, Charli tactfully addresses her mixed feelings toward her friendship with the late SOPHIE, a pop pioneer in her own right whom Charli had a history of collaborating with. Here Charli explores the nuances of grief and the regret associated with it, touchingly explaining regrets that she had regarding her friendship with the fellow pop star in the time that they had together. The emotional build-up of the album is further begins with I might say something stupid and is brought to a close with I think about it all the time. In this final self-reflective cut, Charli looks back on her life thus far, remarking that her career feels “so small in the existential nature of it all” and seriously considering the idea of settling down and becoming a mother. This introspective examination is done through the lens of her admiration for a couple among her friends that have recently welcomed their first child. This emotional climax of the album where Charli considers allowing her career to take a backseat is in direct contract with narratives on the singles that begin the album, suggesting an internal struggle between balancing her contrasting desires of the wild lifestyle associated with her career and the stability associated with motherhood.
However, the album comes full circle with the outro, 365, which borrows from the instrumental of 360, suggesting that Charlie’s thought process has now come a full 360. Prior to the strongest electronic crescendos of the record wrestling control of the track from Charli, the singer brags about her party lifestyle and the excitement of her life, showing no signs of retreating from the limelight. 365 provides the perfect conclusion to the album, concluding Charli’s internal struggles without failing to incorporate the catchy hooks and instrumentals draped in UK rave culture influence that dominate the record.
What sets this album apart from other pop records in the last decade is the way in which Charli borrows from such a range of sonic influences and layers them underneath an even broader range of lyrical themes, all in under 42 minutes. This ambitious task could have easily led to an album that sounded sonically or thematically unfocused, but that isn’t the case. Charli uses her talent for brutally honest (almost Lily Allen-esque) storytelling to nimbly traverse personal and cultural challenges in such a way that allows the listener a glimpse into the mind of a thirty-year old female popstar.
In contrast to the bold and brash marketing scheme employed to promote the album, the grace with which Charli has nudged hyperpop into the mainstream cannot be understated. Charli masterfully makes the burgeoning genre accessible to the widest audience it has ever been privy to through the inclusion of catchy hooks and relatable lyrical content in such a way that only she could have done. In doing so, she further cements her legacy as a member of a select group of musical pioneers in mainstream music that have breathed life back into pop in recent years.
Truly, her legacy is undebated.
This album is fantastic, 10/10.
Theo Aveline 