Charli XCX – Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat (Album Review)

It should be stated that while the Brat Summer phenomenon is coming to an end, this is just the beginning of a new wave of feminine and queer club tunes that rival the David Bowie and Björk eras of music. It should start with a fun hook that is all about drugs and emphatic parties to try and collect as many girlypop-twink-k-hole-superstar-supermodel-dress-to-impress-catwalk-strutting-baddies as possible. To be honest, you could even start by giving a history lesson on Charli XCX herself and how none of this publicity is surprising at all despite how much of a breakout it is. Delving into the master plan of Charli XCX from her early days and sexy photoshoots to her unabashed music style that has not changed, but evolved into a final form that has too many facets to fully understand.

The article would then probably take the time to talk about the record label willing to support Charli XCX as if she is some niche artist and not a million-dollar singer-songwriter who has been nominated for two Grammys and has over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The article would then give credit to that label for the way they have allowed Ms. Brat to grow herself and her popstar brand while switching into an EDM lens over the past few years especially because of the label drama during “Speed Drive” and the 2020 album How I’m Feeling Now. This would all be useless information to the common Brat listener though because they fall into two camps. One that already knows all this information and understands the growth of Charli XCX from her “Boom Clap” days, especially the fact that she has released a disgusting amount of singles and to look at only her albums would do her a disservice as an artist. And the other camp, party-popping people who don’t want to care about the past of Charli XCX because she is on top right now while “Club Classics” and “365” are good enough without the history lesson, thank you very much.

If this were a legitimate review it would probably then delve into the difference between Brat (released June 7, 2024) and Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat (released on October 11, 2024), which is everything, but also nothing as the title says. There would be a lengthy discussion about the features of the new album and if it is correct to release a new album with all the same song names, but with features in them. After that, there could even be an entire aside about Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande, A.G. Cook, Lorde, Tinashe, Robyn, Yung Lean, Bladee, The 1975, BB Trickz, Jon Hopkins, Addison Rae, The Japanese House, Julian Casablancas, Bon Iver, Shygirl, Billie Eilish, Carolina Polacheck, and Ke$ha and what they bring to the album as not only features but musical instruments that change the song. There could be separate portions about the EDM culture of the album and how having Bladee, Shygirl, Julian Casablancas, and Yung Lean as features is very influential and shows that Charli XCX is completely aware of the musical scene around her. If the review had that though, a section on Addison Rae, Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande, Ke$ha, and Caroline Polacheck would have to have their part of the pie where connections to the queer community would be made, and the links between womanhood and queer manhood would likely be both strengthened, stereotyped and appropriated within that section. Clairo might even show up despite not being on the album just because of how amazing she is.

After that, the review would show how objective it is and discuss the problems with Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat. Starting with the fact that it is a release of a lot of music that has already been released, a gripe that no one cares about. Then it would describe the music as having an over-produced sound to it that infects the whole album and leaves it as a collection of songs that feel all too similar. It would probably take a jab at the lyrics of many of the songs; especially “B2b” and “Talk Talk.”

In truth, the article would probably never even come to an end… if that is possible. However, the reviewers themselves know about consumer metrics just as much as Charli XCX knows about being a 365 Party Girl, so they would end the review with something like Cryptic Rock gives this album 4.5 out of 5 stars. Although, this is not a review, and no one listening to Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat wants to read that. However, they do want to listen to an hour and a half of the same music they were already listening to and keep bobbing their heads in and out of a club music trance.