By Andre Paras
Staff Writer
Pop superstar Charli XCX created the music and aesthetics for “Brat summer,” and now the pop sensation is back for more with the new soundtrack for “Brat autumn.” As a remix album that only loosely interpolates its predecessor, it felt like I was hearing “Brat” for the first time, in the best of ways.
In an oversaturated world of half-baked deluxe albums, remixes and even vinyl record variants, Charli XCX’s new remix album “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” serves as a reminder of why these should exist in the first place.
It features the likes of Ariana Grande, The 1975, Caroline Polachek, Lorde, The Japanese House, Julian Casablancas, Billie Eilish and many more artists. Each track has a new revamped instrumental and verse or vocal part from Charli XCX, and its collaborators make each track feel like their own.
With “Brat” as a whole serving as Charli XCX’s club-inspired songs and all of the dance music she listened to growing up, it only makes sense for this record to be full of remixes and even get its own remix album.
This remix record brings 16 new tracks, reimagining all of “Brat’s” original tracklist, along with “Guess” from the deluxe album. Upon the confirmation of this new album’s release, billboards with the backward font from the album cover and Brat green background were up all around the world. They advertised all the artists to be featured on the record and were placed in these artists’ respective hometowns.
The album begins with the lead single “360 featuring robyn & yung lean,” which brings together both Swedish electronic-pop artist Robyn and cloud-rap innovator Yung Lean. This unexpected trio with Charli XCX has great chemistry, with lots of charisma and with these three artists on the song praising each other through the seamless transitions from who takes the lead on vocals. No artist has one dedicated verse to themselves, but Yung Lean brings an addictive new melody to its chorus.
“Club classics featuring bb trickz” combines elements of “365” from the original album, while also bringing a brief, new and modern Latin flow to the mix that left me wanting more from Spanish rapper BB trickz. It’s fun and even has a more danceable groove, which its title suggests.
Arguably the biggest new track, “Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande,” adds a lot more new context to Charli XCX’s vulnerability in the public eye from journalists, miscommunications and her ever-changing sound and persona. The contrast of its upbeat, raving instrumental with such transparent lyrics always drew me to the original, and now again with the remixed version of the song.
As someone who likes Grande’s work, I feel like I’ve yet to hear her discuss these kinds of topics in her own songs, but it’s great to see her opening up about her body and others’ false accusations of it. Alluding to toxic fans, like Charli XCX’s, both of the artists sing “It’s a knife when somebody likes the old me and not the new me,” where both artists find their connecting line as big, constantly evolving figures in the pop realm.
In contrast to this beloved song, the next track, “I might say something stupid featuring the 1975 & jon hopkins,” seems to be the most hated, as fans expressed their dismay on X before it even came out, in response to The 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s recent controversies. However, as someone who’s been a longtime fan of both Charli XCX and The 1975, this was one of my favorite songs on the record and one of the few cases where I preferred the remix over the original song.
The track is an innovative but refreshing flashback to The 1975’s self-proclaimed “Music For Cars” era, which ranged from 2018 to 2020 on their third and fourth full-length studio LPs. It features raw vocals from Healy and stripped-down, ambient and elegant piano playing and production from Hopkins.
“Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek” already felt inspired by art-pop star Polachek without her on the track, but she makes it feel like her own with angelic vocal runs, rich string instrumentals and the song’s pulsating “Fall in love, again and again” rhythm that repeats throughout the track.
Still, without the success of all the big singles from this record, this entire remix album might not have existed in the first place.
“Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” left the pop music world in shambles as fans heard live from two women in the industry pitted against each other “work[ing] it out on the remix.” Lorde and Charli XCX opened up about previous insecurities the two have had with each other in the past and the complexities of being a woman in the music industry.
“Guess featuring billie eilish” brought indie sleaze producer The Dare to the top of his scene and let Eilish continue to embrace her sexuality to the mainstream through its direct, lustful lyrics and delivery.
Finally, “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” has served as Charli XCX and Sivan’s SWEAT tour grand finale, another fun collaboration for the two and a treat for their big fan base crossover.
Charli XCX has had the best album rollout she could’ve asked for, and as a result, the spotlight has been on her for the past year. This is all a reward thanks to her team marketing “Brat,” her skills pioneering in the dance-pop genre the past decade and everything she stands for as a woman navigating this toxic industry.
