fall in
fall in love again and again. or how brat and it's completely different but also still brat keeps us feeling head over heels.
many things have been written about charli xcx, brat, brat summer, brat essentials, brat in the political context, brat the marketing case study, brat the cultural phenomenon, and now brat and it's completely different but also still brat.
this means that whatever is written here might not add much to the already existing discourse from far more qualified people, but since the release of the remix album this past friday, i’ve been falling in love again (and again) with the brat-verse. i also don’t feel like writing about anything else, and this record is quite frankly the only thing that excites me right now.
everything’s still romantic, right?
in a very simplistic metaphoric kind of way, brat and it's completely different but also still brat could be seen as the younger sibling of the og brat. she’s the “how are they so different if they were raised by the same person?” question. she’s inspired by her older sister’s overall style and attitude, taking several cues from her coolness, authenticity, vulnerability, rawness, messiness, and realness. but she’s also her own self. she might be the other half of something, but she’s still whole—she has her own questions and personal perspective, she puts her own spin on things, and she’s refreshingly unapologetic about it. this means it’s pointless to compare them.
i’ve always had a bit of an issue with songs coming out and being cemented as one thing for eternity…. i think songs are endless and have the possibility to be continuously broken down, reworked, changed, morphed, mutilated into something completely unrecognizable. that’s what i was wanting to do with this record and i’m so happy that all the collaborators on this record were so open to exploring and reinterpreting the songs with me.
charli xcx on brat and it's completely different but also still brat
this intention that charli set out for this record reminds us that art is not meant to be stagnant. what has been done shouldn’t serve as a prison for our own creativity, but rather a starting point for a wider conversation. this is not to be confused with stealing someone else’s work, or not giving credit where credit is due, but it does make me wonder if we’re not policing ourselves a little too much, sometimes to the point where we can only realize an idea if it’s 100% original. take writing, for example. you won’t be the first person to experience certain things or reach certain conclusions, and somewhere out there, in the endless vastness of the internet, there’s probably someone who’s already written about struggling to let go or navigating adult friendships. and if you stumble upon something that you want to write about, don’t shy away from doing it because someone else has already done it. just normalize being each other’s favorite reference and get on with your day.
what both brat and brat and it's completely different but also still brat achieve so beautifully is this idea of multitude, nuance, and possibility. just take the transition from I think about it all the time to 365. going from a deeply introspective place with a song about motherhood and feeling like you’re running out of time into a club classic anthem about meeting in the bathroom if you’re bumping that, is the real definition of the “girlhood is a spectrum” meme.
it’s also what makes these two records so appealing. it’s a vivid picture that feels monumental and sometimes even cinematic, but still very close to home—to the point where you might even question if charli herself is in your head. every song feels authentic, perfectly encapsulating the notion and essence of being in your early 30s; an ambitious, confident, and secure person who is equally filled with doubts, questions, worries, and fears. there’s a sort of duality that feels profoundly human and relatable, opening up space for complexity and conflict.
you see it in the search for beauty in everyday, mundane life with Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek (which to me delivers some of the most breathtaking moments of the whole album), the acceptance stage of the grieving process during So I featuring a. g. cook (which feels like a healing cycle from lyrics like Wish I tried to pull you closer or Guilty feelings keep me fractured to Now I wanna think about all the good times), and the intricate dynamics and relationships on both Apple featuring the japanese house and Girl, so confusing featuring lorde.
in the mix, charli is also reckoning with her newfound (mainstream) fame. and although some of the feelings may not entirely resonate with the angels, brats and casual listeners alike,
“It's a knife when you're finally on top/'Cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall” (Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande)
“All this money makes me competitive/Gotta get more, living all excess” (Rewind featuring bladee)
“I travel 'round the world to fifteen countries in four days and/After I get off stage, I'm on set shooting 'til the a.m/I'm fuckin' tired, but I love it and I'm not complainin'/Oh, shit, I kinda made it” (B2b featuring tinashe)
there’s still a sense of approachability in the way she paints the picture of her stardom and her position within the music industry. perhaps it’s because she’s not trying too hard—although everything is deliberate, there’s still plenty of spontaneous, down-to-earth moments that make charli feel like one of the girls. you know, like she could be part of that one group chat, compliment your outfit in the middle of the street, or hand you a tampon in the club bathroom.
in the context of all in which we live in, brat and it's completely different but also still brat feels like a fitting soundtrack for the self-proclaimed brat autumn. the way i see it, og brat brought a sort of glam-summertime-fling atmosphere to the party; the sort of dream-fantasy-land of lemons on the trees and on the ground, sandals on the stirrups of the scooters, and neon orange drinks on the beach. but as the sun sets, so does reality; early nights in white sheets with lace curtains, capri in the distance, turn into late nights in black silk in East London, church bells in the distance. all the fucking foxes keeping you up at night, when all you want to do is shut off your brain.
thankfully, brat is not being shut off anytime soon (it will never be, but you get the idea). 72 hours after the release of the remix album, images of a van with the words kesha and spring breakers started circulating the internet. for the chronically online, early adopters of brat, this remix wasn’t entirely a surprise—but definitely feels like a long-awaited treat. as for the next 72 hours, we’re all collectively manifesting the last one standing—that is, the Hello goodbye remix. in the words of charli herself, maybe one more and then ?
perfectly displayed and eloquently worded sphere of the brat context ! love !