Charli XCX’s album BRAT has been nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. I was not much of a club-pop person before discovering BRAT, but shortly after its release in June 2024, I gave the album a chance. Now, here I am, several months later, and still obsessed, just like the rest of the world.
Lime green, fuzzy black text, and ‘365 party girl’ music have been everywhere this year. Even though ‘brat summer’ is over, the content sure isn’t. On Oct. 11, Charli XCX released Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, a remix album of the original BRAT album and committed to the bit of keeping the remix industry afloat.
Since the launch of the original BRAT, Charli XCX has released several remixes, with most of them being on this album. “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” and “Guess featuring billie eilish” have been particularly popular, the latter charting on the Billboard Hot 100 and getting its own music video. Other remixes, like “Von Dutch featuring a.g cook and Addison are,” “360” featuring Robyn and Yung Lean, and “Talk talk featuring Troye Sivan,” are all exciting parts of this album.
This remix album is for anyone who didn’t connect with the original and is looking for something new. The featured artists come from a variety of genres, each bringing their signature styles to the remixes. For example, “Mean girls featuring julian casablancas” is almost an entirely different song from “Mean girls” with its new twist. The remix starts with frantic piano, like the bridge of the original song, but incorporates a distorted version of the repeating lines “this one’s for all my mean girls” in between Julian Casablancas’s expressive, layered vocals.
“I think about it all the time featuring bon iver” brings the band’s indie-folk vibe to one of my favorite original songs. I was slightly skeptical when it was initially announced Bon Iver was going to feature on this album, but I will gladly eat all of my critical words because this collaboration was genius. The powerful vocals play beautifully with the emotional core of the song.
Caroline Polachek was one of my most anticipated features and I was (unsurprisingly) not disappointed. The feature doesn’t change the energy of the song, “Everything is romantic,” it enhances it. Polachek takes over Charli XCX’s original vocals, singing the repeating “everything is” lines with her typical haunting vocals. The lyrics reflect the original while also using Polachek’s own experiences and observations rather than just Charli’s.
Some of the songs don’t just change lyrics, but shift the meaning entirely. For example, “So I” was a particularly emotional song on the original album about Charli XCX’s longtime friend and collaborator SOPHIE, who passed away in 2021. The song takes the perspective of Charlie XCX performing after SOPHIE’s passing. It tackles ideas of regret and grief over losing someone with so much talent.
On brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, “So I” featuring a.g. cook” starts with the line, “Now I want to think about all the good times.” The lyrics detail Charli and SOPHIE’s first meeting, incorporating several happy memories between the two of them. It beautifully revisits the original song, providing an equally emotional look at the relationship itself rather than the loss. The song speeds up the original instrumental, making it sound brighter to better reflect the new tone.
The “Sympathy is a knife” remix also shifts the original meaning of the song, but this time, to reflect the changed context of Charli’s experience. Originally about feeling envy for those with more success in the music industry, this new version with Ariana Grande focuses more on the struggle that comes with fame and status. Instead of “’cause I couldn’t even be her if I tried,” from the original, the remix repeats, “’cause it’s a knife when you’re finally on top, ‘cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall to the bottom.”
“Sympathy is a knife” remix is Charli XCX at the height of her fame, realizing the life she envied in the original has its different hardships. Grande’s verse, which mentions disrespectful fans and touches on body shaming, provides a take on the trappings of fame. Her perspective is from someone who has been in the mainstream media and music industry for over a decade, someone who very much fits the subject of the original song. This new meaning makes for a really interesting addition to the idea of “Sympathy is a knife,” plus it’s incredibly catchy.
Some other favorite remixes of mine I can’t help but shoutout are “Apple featuring japanese house,” a softer, more melodic, stripped-down version, and “365 featuring shygirl,” which is an energy-heightened version of one of the most exciting songs from the original album.
The album title is fitting, as this is truly a completely different album than the original version. It clearly comes after the success of BRAT, as each take on the songs feels fresh, whether they come from Charli or one of her fantastic featured artists on the album. While the meanings of each song have shifted with the vocals and beats, it still has the same magic that made BRAT brat.
BRAT summer may be over, but BRAT is forever.