BRAT

I loved this album; this might be my favourite Charli XCX project to date, and one of the better pop records this year, delivering on all promises while avoiding being a sgawp-pop record. Not perfect, but Charli excels at catchy, quality, well-produced pop like 360 and Von Dutch, and some of the additional depth there is welcome. There’s surprisingly a lot of empathy and emotion here to accompany the more upbeat pop songs, and it’s as refreshing as it sounds. The inherent introspective lyricism sets off some of the pop songs like a signal fire would in the woods, and things that are entirely conventional on paper like being guilty for your friend’s death, or career-focused life choices feel new and genuine here, melding together nicely. The production is Charli, varied, fresh, and fun, with that distinct hyperpop-lite Y2K core, and sonic palette as diverse as the other two. There’s oodles of creativity to be had here: Mean Girls has an infectious first half and then she blends in a series of piano chords to rack up a groove crescendo. There are moments of fuckery that could be explored, but this is an album that shows how Charli’s unique brand can be respected early in her career as pop music continues to be bloated out. Honestly the pace is pretty good here, although there are some tracks I wish didn’t make the cut, and some VERY longueurs as a result. But the brevity of SPWN’s runtimes keep the pace brisk enough, and overall it’s catchy and fun enough to keep me engaged. Charli’s benefit here is a solid performance that fits the production style well. There’s been excellent marketing so far, too, with a visual series that I’ve enjoyed and a solid run of singles that I’ve found incredibly addicting, and then some. 360 gets things off the ground with some energetic production, and Club Classics and Sympathy Is a Knife are two tracks that elevate this record with superior production and catchy choruses. I Might Say Something Stupid flows nicely and is a welcome slow down with the context of the record in mind. Talk Talk is clearly radio gold. Von Dutch keeps up the production standard. This is a very fun record, with very solid thematic songwriting and powerful creative production, and Charli’s brand of pop will always be in a unique lane.

CHARLI XCX - BRAT

RATING - 8.4/10

FAVORITE TRACKS - Club Classics, So i, B2b

GENRE - Pop, Hyperpop