Charli xcx has been in the music industry for over a decade and with the release of her album, BRAT, she was shot into a level of stardom few ever reach. A few months later Charli released “Brat and it’s completely different but it’s still brat,” a remix album of BRAT. BRAT was critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of 2024, but can the remix album hold up?
Well no…
“BRAT”
“BRAT” is a hyperpop-inspired club and electropop album filled with interesting production and fun melodies. While Charli xcx has always been very vulnerable in her music, this album feels like a confession, letting all of her emotions out in a way that you don’t see from many other artists. In my opinion, “BRAT” is somewhat less unique than some of Charli xcx’s other more experimental albums like “how i’m feeling now” and “Pop 2.” But it is very palatable to the average music listener. This palatability helped BRAT go so insanely viral and while I hate seeing Charli move away from experimental pop, I love seeing her succeed.
My favorite song from this album is easily “I might say something stupid.” It’s a very simple song but its simplicity really works in its favor. The synth used, paired with only using hi-hats, gives the song an almost scary atmosphere and really helps to build the song’s message. During the release of “BRAT,” Charli xcx was popular, but she wasn’t at the same level as some of her peers. “I might say something stupid” tells Charli’s frustrations with being famous, but not famous enough to achieve all of her goals.
Ironically “BRAT” was the album to move Charli xcx to being one of the biggest pop stars in the world.
I also really enjoyed “Spring breakers”. It’s a super fun club banger that reminded me a lot of “I Got It (feat. Brooke Candy, CupcakKe, and Pabllo Vittar)” from Charli’s album, Pop 2, but about 10x more aggressive. “Spring breakers” is a song all about how much Charli xcx hates award shows, more specifically the Grammys. The lyrics are almost nonsensical and it rhelps to paint the vivid story of Charli going completely insane. The fun (and tasteful) references to “Vroom Vroom” and “Boom Clap” really help to bring all of the artistic growth that Charli has gone through to light
Similarly to “I might say something stupid,” “Sympathy is a knife” is a song about how it can be really difficult to discern when people are giving you sympathy sincerely. The speaker-breaking beat contrasts so well with the lyrics to create a song that makes you feel like you’re having a mental breakdown.
Two songs that very pleasantly surprised me were “Apple” and “Talk talk.” They sound like music produced by J-Pop producer Yasutaka Nakata, who Charli xcx has worked with in the past. With lots of autotune and almost pointless lyrics, they remind me a lot of the music from the J-Pop girl group Perfume. While I was not expecting anything like this from “BRAT,” I was not disappointed at all. `
This album is the best released in 2024 and it is not close. No other album had anywhere near the impact of “BRAT,” no other album is just flawless song after flawless song. There is almost nothing negative to say about “BRAT.”
Overall Rating: 9.3
“Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”
“Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” is absolutely beautiful at its best and a horrible mess at its worst.
While many of the remixes tastefully put a new spin there are a few that just had me perplexed while listening to them. This album has some songs that surpass “BRAT” in quality but overall “Brat and “it’s completely different but also still brat” is nowhere near as good as “BRAT.” This album tries to be experimental like some of Charli’s earlier work but at the same time doesn’t allow itself to be too experimental which really hinders a lot of the songs on this album.
“Talk talk featuring troye sivan” is easily the best remix on this album. It takes the house elements of “Talk talk” and cranks them up 100 times, turning “Talk talk” from a pop song you would hear at a TJ Maxx to a song that you would hear at a gay club. “Talk talk” went from one of the less interesting songs on “BRAT” to the best song on the remix album and I was absolutely astonished. Troye Sivan’s voice adds a lot of contrast that was missing from “Talk talk”. I also think that the little bits of ‘audio message’ from Dua Lipa in the intro and outro help to create a nice atmosphere.
Despite not being super interesting sonically, “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” might just be the most interesting song on the remix album. This song is about how women, in general (but especially in the music industry), will be forced to compete for the entertainment of others. This is exactly what happened with Charli xcx and Lorde, they never hated each other, but because they were both around the same age and both made somewhat alternative music. After years of miscommunications and misunderstandings, Charli xcx and Lorde came together to work out their differences and release “Girl, so confusing.”
“Club classics featuring bb trickz” is one of the weirdest songs on this album. I can’t even call this experimental, it’s just kind of bad. This is just a weird mashup of “Club classics” and “365” with an extra verse. Bb trickz’ verse is absolutely phenomenal, it’s only about 30 seconds, and it can’t save this song. The “Club classics” remix isn’t a remix at all, it’s a strange amalgamation of synths, vocals, and samples that should have never even entered Logic Pro together.
Similarly, “Rewind featuring bladee” is trying way too hard to sound like a Bladee song, but it isn’t. This is Charli xcx featuring Bladee, I was just confused as to why the producer on this song thought that it would be a good idea to focus the remix around the feature, especially since Bladee did NOT deliver in his verse. As a huge fan of both Charli xcx and Bladee I was extremely excited when I heard that Bladee and Charli xcx were collaborating, only to be severely disappointed in the result.
Ending on a much more positive note, “360 featuring robyn & yung lean” is the perfect example of what a remix should be. Not too much changed in the production, but it’s still a completely new song. Charli uses this song as a platform for Robyn and Yung Lean to really just play around with “360” and its beat. Charli doesn’t have a full verse in this song, just a few lines throughout and a handful of adlibs. This reminded me a lot of “Shake It (feat. Big Freedia, CupcakKe, Brooke Candy, and Pabllo Vittar),” with Charli letting her guest artists take control of the song, with Charli just as a backup. “360 featuring robyn & yung lean” is one of the best remixes on this album because it doesn’t try to do too much, it’s just fun and that’s all music needs to be.
Overall Rating: 6.2
