On Oct.6, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan played their co-headlining tour at the Kia Center in downtown Orlando. With the crowd dressed out in neon green and sexy attire ready to rave, the show was very energetic from beginning to end, and then we understood why it was called the Sweat Tour.
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan shared the stage, playing hits from their recent albums BRAT and Something to Give Each Other. The opener, Shygirl, set the tone for the rest of the night. It was two hours and thirty minutes of pure ecstasy.
Throughout the show, both headliners pushed pop music to another level, innovating an incredible show flow. It sounded like there was never a break in the audience’s screams and dancing. Charli and Sivan spent the entire night switching back and forth, keeping the audience hyped to anticipate who would take the stage next.
Sivan was the first headliner to perform, and his performance was hypnotic, delivering vocals and captivating choreographies. Some of his sets featured his queer identity. He recorded an interlude for his song One of Your Girls, and during the video, he was in his beautiful drag look from the song’s music video. Audible gasps from the crowd followed the entirety of the set.
Charli was next, and her stage presence and energy were unbelievable. She had huge, big diva energy, which explains the success of her “brat attitude.” As soon as the BRAT curtain collapsed, the Kia Center turned into a club, making her the life of the party. During her set, the arena’s sections felt like a minor earthquake.
On Oct.11, Charli released a remix album, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. During the Orlando show, the pop star gave a piece of paper with all the tracks and featured artists on the album to a fan to leak on social media.
Toward the show’s end, Charli and Sivan united to perform their tracks featuring one another, including “1999” and the newest “Talk Talk” remix. In this YouTube video, they explain how they met in 2018 and have been collaborating on projects ever since.
Both Charli and Sivan are changing how people experience music. My only critique is that the concert ended.
The success of Brat
Charli’s sixth studio album, BRAT, has become a cultural phenomenon. It debuted at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It was also one of her best-reviewed albums by the critics, receiving a 95/100 score on Metacritic.
According to TIME, some of its popularity lies in how she has defined the idea of being a “brat.” To Charli, being a brat is about being a complex character: You can admit your flaws and recognize what makes you human, but you can also do whatever you want in the way you want to. During an interview with The Face, she called the album her “most aggressive and confrontational record,” which also displays a lot of vulnerability in her songs.
One idea for marketing the album was a live stream of the “Brat Wall.” After the album was released, the stream was changed to a white background, and announced the deluxe version called Brat. It’s the same, but there are three more songs, so it’s not.
The marketing for the remix album was genius. Since the cover has all its letters backward, she continued the theme by announcing the artists featured on the album backward.
On her remix album, she collaborated with Lorde on the song “Girl, so confusing.” As predicted, they broke the internet. Their complicated relationship ended when Lorde seemed to confirm the rumors, addressing their “beef” in a sincere, brilliant verse.
In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Charli stated that her next album probably won’t be as successful as this one since it will have more comparisons between sound, marketing, and aesthetics, a recurring problem in the music industry.
Charli’s success demonstrates that it is not necessary to sell millions of records to be deemed successful. A solid fan base and music can carry an artist to the top.