Charli XCX’s sixth album is one, she says, that she was destined to create. Writing on X (fka Twitter) forward of its launch, she advised followers: “i used to be born to make dance music.. i got here from the golf equipment..[sic]”, addressing the sonic world she dives into on the venture, including: “xcx6 is the album i’ve at all times wished to make.”
‘Brat’ follows 2022’s ‘Crash’, on which XCX “put her personal spin on mainstream pop” for a file she dubbed her “main label sell-out” album, launched as her preliminary file contract got here to an in depth with Asylum (she lately re-upped with Asylum’s dad or mum firm Atlantic for ‘Brat’). Her sixth file shifts away from these sounds, and sees her pushing the boundaries of her personal sonic world.
It’s one thing XCX has accomplished all through her profession: take 2016’s future-facing EP ‘Vroom Vroom’, a launch that divided critics on the time however has since received over cult adoration, or ‘How I’m Feeling Now’, a venture XCX very publicly pulled collectively over the course of 5 and a half weeks throughout the pandemic (documenting the method on-line). Whereas ‘Crash’ boasted extra conventional pop sounds (take synth-pop lead single ‘Good Ones’, or ‘Beg For You’ which interpolates Eurodance belter ‘Cry for You’), with ‘Brat’ she totally commits to the dancefloor.
On the self-described “membership file”, XCX gives pure get together woman hedonism. Percolating beats, brash synths, left-field manufacturing and vocal strains that flit between bratty quips or sincere one-liners. Within the run-up to ‘Brat’’s launch, XCX celebrated the catharsis of the membership with occasions like her Boiler Room set (which obtained probably the most RSVPs in Boiler Room’s historical past), and by dropping singles just like the fizzing ‘Membership classics’ that greater than dwell as much as their title (and sees her assert: “I wanna dance to me”), and the remainder of ‘Brat’ goes equally more durable that ever earlier than.
‘All the things is romantic’ is a freefall of cinematic strings and vibrating industrial beats; whereas ‘Imply women’, a slinky tribute to its titular personas non grata which sees XCX assert “This one’s for all my imply women”, erupts right into a piano-house flecked breakdown full with Daft Punk-evoking robotic vocals. And at instances ‘Lady, so complicated’ evokes XCX’s 2017 mixtape ‘Pop 2’, fusing it with a throbbing bassline and XCX’s half-spoken vocals.
But these heady songs additionally see XCX at her most uncooked, smuggling the reflections that spill out within the early hours of the morning by means of the guise of membership bangers. ‘Rewind’ sees XCX dissect her personal insecurities, the frank realisations (“These days I solely eat on the good eating places / however actually I’m at all times interested by my weight”) spun over woozy synths. ‘So I’, a second of quiet grief, sees XCX take a look at her relationship with the late digital pioneer SOPHIE: “At all times on my thoughts (day-after-day, each night time) / Your star burns so brilliant (why did I push you away?)”.
After which there’s ‘I give it some thought on a regular basis’ a track that particulars the concerns of working out of time for motherhood, that sees XCX hush in its finale: “we had a dialog on the best way dwelling, ought to I cease my contraception / as a result of my profession feels so small, within the existential scheme of all of it”.
All of it paints an image of who XCX is in 2024. Rising pains, grief and aching doubts come alongside self-confidence, celebration and the data of the place XCX holds within the musical panorama – certainly, she kicks off ‘360’ with the understanding: “I went my very own approach and I made it / I’m your favorite reference child”. With ‘Brat’, XCX demonstrates that going her personal approach will at all times sound fairly good.
Particulars
- Launch date: June 5, 2024
- File label: Atlantic
