Charli XCX’s Sneak Peak to “Brat”
Sam Barbagallo 26’ / Emertainment Staff Writer
English singer-songwriter Charli XCX is an accomplished artist who has made a significant impact on the experimental pop genre. Throughout her career she has created music that seamlessly combines elements of dance, electronic, hyperpop, and experimentalism, making her a genre-bending visionary. Since releasing her last full length albums, CRASH (2022) and CRASH (Deluxe) (2023), she has made an appearance on the soundtrack to Barbie (2023), as well as releasing a few singles that have kept her fans eagerly anticipating her new album Brat.
In the past two months she has released a total of four songs that have contributed to promoting her upcoming LP release. Her first single spanning this timeframe was Von Dutch, which has received a considerable amount of publicity. While having immense critical success, off of CRASH, the song itself remains just as well received while still having a fresh new taste from her previous full length album. Although this adrenaline-pumping single is just a taste of what will be on Brat, her newest album has a chance of proving herself (even more) to be one of the greatest pop icons of the past several decades.
Following Von Dutch, Charli XCX made a surprise remix of the hit single with Addison Rae, singer-songwriter and famed actress, and A.G Cook, music producer and long-time collaborator with Charli XCX. The remix has surfaced on TikTok, gaining a lot of popularity on the app, while also gaining a suitable portion of streams and becoming one of her most popular songs. The production of the remix creates a much different tone while the beginning half of the song is building up to the climax of the song. Making it insanely impressive how well the song keeps the listener engaged for a minute and a half of build up before the cue thump.
In February, before releasing any of the singles, Charli XCX and Boiler Room did a collaboration set where she previewed many of the songs that she would be releasing over the next two months. While this set occurred roughly a month and a half ago, the Youtube premiere of the set wasn’t released until March 28th. Nonetheless, the wait was worth it. This Boiler Room was extremely well received, and truly showed the production prowess of the queen of rave herself. Each mix and mash-up was executed flawlessly, creating a captivating environment for everyone who was there, even giving online viewers goosebumps. Safely assessing, this set was a pop-tronic masterpiece.
In her most recent EP, Charli XCX released two songs: Club classics and B2b. “They are 2 very important songs in the bratosphere” she says on Instagram, following the release of both songs. While previewing both Club classics and B2b in her Boiler Room set—among many other unreleased songs that are likely to appear on Brat— Charli XCX chose two songs that perfectly capture the themes of her upcoming album. Club classics, made from the singer-songwriter longing for hearing cult classic club songs nowadays. It creates a nostalgic, spacey sound combined with Charli’s elusive style making a new and refreshing sound for the listener. B2b has a more intricate and personal story attached, while also having the raw electronic feel accompanied by a pop-y rhythm that distinguishes Charli XCX from any other artist.
With these tremendous previews being released to the public, it is without a doubt that Brat will get an immense amount of publicity, as the pop community gives one of its most influential stars a fervently awaited “welcome back”.