Who does not want dance with charli xcx? The British star has been pop's go-to girl since her debut, writing high-octane hits for other artists like Icona Pop's “I Love It” and Iggy Azalea's “Fancy” while saving the wildest and wildest avant-garde impulses her for her own. excellent LPs, latest 2022 Conflict. On her sixth album, Brat, he stays out later and goes harder than ever. And while she's gyrating on the dance floor, she's getting in over her head, digging deep into the kinds of insecurities and fears in store for the next morning's comedown.
Brat seesaw between extremes from song to song, a hyperpop rollercoaster of a post-Saturn comeback, early 30s anxieties and It-girl bravado. The album opens with the one-two punch of “360” and “Club Classics,” a pair of ragers featuring Charli famous friends Gabbriette, Julia Fox, Hudson Mohawke, his friend George Daniel and Brat co-executive producer AG Cook. It's a throwback to classic club hits, the kind that do little more than tell you to free your mind and keep dancing.
By the time we hit “Sympathy Is a Knife,” it's clear that Charli has only gotten half of that advice. It's the first of many tracks that see her bare some of her most conflicted emotions over beats that never lose their energy. “Sympathy” conveys her paranoia, the voice in her head telling her she's not enough. And even though he needs sympathy, it feels even more painful when he gets what he wants. Later, on “Rewind,” she lists all the aspects of herself that she feels ashamed of: her face, her weight, her fame, her chart success. On “So I,” Charli is overcome with sadness as she thinks about her friend and collaborator Sophie, who died in 2021. The singer talks about how she wishes she had drawn the late artist closer, instead of being intimidated by her talent Sophie and harsh but loving reviews when the pair worked together.
“Girl, So Confusing” details a different type of relationship, as Charli unravels a complicated frenzy dynamic with another female pop star. “You're in the business of writing poems/But I'm in the business of throwing parties,” he explains. Though she celebrates “Mean Girls” later in the album, this track offers an olive branch despite how little she and her peerage seem to share.
The album closes with two of his best tracks. “I Think About It All The Time” is a wonderful confession about the future and motherhood, leaving existential questions about when the time will be right for her to pursue this part of her life up in the air. Once he realizes he doesn't have all the answers, we cut right into “365,” the most euphoric club offering on an album full of euphoric club offerings. “Are we going to do a little key?/Are we going to have a little line?” he asks, as if the whole album was just one long, drunken bathroom queue conversation with Charlie the whole time. And who better to have this kind of conversation with in the middle of the night?
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