My Thoughts on BRAT
Charli XCX's NEW album BRAT released last Friday, June 7, 2024
Over the last two weeks I’ve been outlining the general framework of pop music I’ve been using to analyse much of the music I encounter in my day-to-day life.
This week, I’ll interrupt the series. I would be amiss if I didn’t take the opportunity of Charli XCX’s new album release to quickly jot down my thoughts about it.
Spoiler alert: the album exceeded my expectations. I felt a bit uneasy about the singles—I was excited about the pop song “360” and club banger “Club Classics” but more a little more lukewarm about “von dutch” and especially “B2B.” But overall, the album was a winner. No doubt about it.
I told some of you in person, but for anyone reading, I hosted a listening party for the release of the album in my Berlin apartment. Seven friends turned up, from seasoned Charli XCX “Stans” to those who had never heard the name before, coming into the experience with a blank slate. I don’t think I succeeded in converting everyone into fans, but the party certainly succeeded in raising some eyebrows.
Overall, the listening party was a great format to explore, and I would like to do more of them. For some it might feel a little unfamiliar to be listening to an album on streaming services communally, but I think by commenting on tracks from time to time, and discussing them, the format has a lot of potential.
My Annotated Tracklist
Ok, now onto my unfiltered thoughts on the album. I normally listen more for instrumentation rather than lyrics, but I’ve found that the lyrics on this album are really key to understanding what’s going on, conceptually. The overarching themes of this album are Charli’s left-of center place in the pop pantheon, allusions to family planning that stand in direct contradiction the PARTYGIRL life.
My personal highlights include (1) 365 (2) So I; (3) a tie between “Everything is romantic” and “Sympathy is a knife.” If you’re new to this album, I recommend listening to those, they also give a general sense of the varying levels of energy that permeate the album.
1. 360
The last single released in the run-up of the album. Textpainting “Camera Flash On” camera click (0:28). Noisy Dotted Supersaw lead hovering above Charli’s vocals (almost like a mosquito). “Legacy is undebated / You gon’ jump if A. G. made it” – reference to A. G. Cook, her creative director, and executive producer on the album. Nice sound reverse snare sound under the words “AG made it” (01:15). Great pop track overall and a way to open the album.
2. Club classics
Jersey Club Beat (1, 2, 123) = two quarter notes + quarter note triplet. Referencing Jersey club, a dance genre that has grown in popularity in the past five or so years. References to various producers on the album: AG, Hudson Mohawke, George Daniel (her fiancé), Sophie (not featured but referenced in the later track “So I”). Chords unmistakably by A. G. Cook. Prominent use of an opening and closing filter on the bassline (“wah wah” effect).
3. Sympathy is a knife
Track opens with the most snappy claps I’ve heard in a long time. Stabby bassline unmistakably A. G. Cook—knife-like? Song lyrics deal with jealousy about another, unknown woman (“couldn’t even be her if I tried”) who is implied to be pursuing Charli’s fiancé, George Daniel. Mercurial emotional states oscillate between paranoia and rage, and are emphasised by jolting key changes, alternating between E flat major (Verse) and B flat major (Chorus).
4. I might say something stupid
Charli, the self-proclaimed PARTYGIRL shrouded in self-doubt. The feeling conveyed is relatable—of feeling out-of-place at a party (“let in but still outside”). The two scenes the lyrics are depicting are (a) Charli in the bathroom, staring at her self-reflection (b) out on the lawn, hanging her tights on a lawn chair. Charli taking on the role of the “outsider” mirrored by the prominent use of the minor four (iv) chord, that takes us out of the key signature. Unusually paired down instrumentation consisting only of an electric piano and a drum kit. Introverted feel.
5. Talk talk
Energy change: An optimistic pendant to the previous track. Charli is back at the party, looking to talk to her interest at the party. Snappy snares are back, snapping you back into a party-environment. Four on the floor kick drum, a staple of house music, reposition us in the party. Dynamic filter opening and closing at times. Low-pass filter giving the effect of being at the party (filter open) or outside (filter closed). Extroverted feel. Pendant to Track 4.
6. Von dutch
Noteworthy for being one of the three tracks that is a 1-on-1 collaboration (the other two being “I might say something stupid” (Gesaffelstein) and “Girl, So Confusing” (Cook). This one is a track co-created with long-time collaborator Finn Keane aka EASYFUN. Safe to say this is a departure from EASYFUN’s more common chord-forward writing, we see him embracing a harder style prefigured in his own 2023 productions like “HARDPAIN” and “carelesscarelesscarelesscarelesscareless.” Song has self-confident lyrics, and samples Bodyrox’s “Yeah Yeah” (2006) – a time when Charli was a teenager, and von dutch trucker hats were all the rage.
7. Everything is romantic
South Italy. Pompeii. Capri in the distance. This song is clearly inspired by Charli’s sojourn in Italy last summer (instagram: “i'm sorry but europe is better than america - I might move back. damn.”). The song is multi-sectional, like a suite, a quintessentially European musical form. The song works through images evoking Europe, specifically southern Italy (“Winding roads, doing manual drive”/ “Capri in the distance” ), and opens with orchestral sounds. My favourite moment are the hard stabs coming out of nowhere at 1:40. The following chords are gorgeous (F major: iii - vi – ii – V). The looped vocals recall the very end of Party 4 U, off HIFN.
8. Rewind
A song about self-doubt, nostalgic for the simpler days (“used to burn CDs full of songs I didn’t know). Great use of text-painting (“sometimes I just wanna rewind”) – followed by a rewinding backspin on a DJ controller throughout the song. Lovely detail is the retro synth line glittering in the background at 01:28 (Db - C – Ab / Db – C - Ab - F (!) ), clearly A. G. involved:
Also chords are great: Db major: V – vi – vii – I.
The song ends with a rewind and an echo effect, as per the lyrics.
9. So I
This song commemorates SOPHIE, the late artist, producer, and collaborator who inspired Charli XCX to explore new musical directions she might not have pursued on her own. It stands as a tribute to their deep personal and creative relationship. The track reflects on missed opportunities and roads not taken during their partnership, where SOPHIE continuously pushed Charli to new heights, despite her anxieties (“I was scared sometimes / you had a power like a lightning strike”). SOPHIE’s presence is immortalized through a luminous synthesizer arpeggio (“your star burns so bright”), reminiscent of the one used in SOPHIE’s own song “It's Okay to Cry”.
The chords are lyrical and restrained, in the key of D major:
ii I V // I vii IV in the key of D major : Em D A // D A/C# G
10. Girl, so confusing
A solo collaboration between Charli and A. G. Cook. Not the most typical in terms of the type of music they usually put out together. Starting at 01:31 there is a robotic-type vocal reminiscent of Daft Punk. The outro is quite remarkable with filtered synth strings and the words “girl” panning and echoing across the speakers.
11. Apple
The airport or the apple? An upbeat song playing on the similar sounds of airport and apple. Can’t help but being reminded of A. G.’s album Apple. One of the more joyful tracks on the album.
12. B2b
One of the singles released in the run-up to the album. This is a song co-created between Mike Lévy aka Gesaffelstein and Charli. Featuring a repeating dotted bassline and a grating, sustained lead sound in the background. One of the lyrically more simple songs, with the title alluding to back-to-back DJ sets. The section starting at 01:48 is one of the weaker moments on the otherwise stellar album. The filter effect starting at 02:05 saves the track.
13. Mean girls
This track is familiar, since A. G. Cook played a special edit of this in his boiler room performance. Especially that piano breakdown is killer. I wonder who came up with the piano midi breakdown? It’s killer. Killer. This one’s a sleeper hit. Satisfying ii - iii - IV - V - vi (Key: G flat major) chord loop and enjoyable flanged saw synth lead towards the end.
14. I think about it all the time
Charli reflecting on aging and the desire of having a baby later down the line, and if so, how that might curb the freedom she enjoys now. Sounds like a baby might be on the way soon? Interesting daft punk-like effect on the chords (see Track 10). Amateur vocals reminiscent of early pc music, personal. The third chord in that loop feels jarring, clashing overtones.
15. 365
A reprise of the opening track & my favourite track off the album. The track is musical reflection of doing drugs repeatedly at a club. This one’s a trip. It opens with a reprise of the opening track (360), reflecting the beginning of a night. It features repeated lyrics (“Shall we do a little key? / Shall we have a little line”). Lovely text painting hearing a cracking windows FX (“Now I want to hear my track are you bumping that / Till the windows crack, I’ll be bumping that”) at 00:46. New section starts at 01:04 and it’s just level after level, key change after key change after that—coupling the lyric of “doing another key” with a key change, taking us to weirder and weirder places, sonically speaking. The song eventually morphs into a soundscape reminiscent of Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction, a song Charli played in her Boiler Room Set. “365” contrasts with the previous track in that it indulges in a reckless PARTYGIRL lifestyle, presumably 365 days of the year. This track takes some risks. Probably in my favourite 3 of all Charli’s tracks along with Unlock It and Party 4 U.
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Phew that was exhausing but fun to write. Comment below if you made any other discoveries. What was your favourite track and why?