Take a Historically Significant Beat w/ Charli XCX's Brat
July 4th 1776, September 11th 2001, December 25th 0000, and now: June 7th 2024.
On June 7th 2024, Charli XCX released Brat.
Like Shakespeare’s debut of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre in 1597 or Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon in 1969, Brat is a celebration of human ingenuity, and a shining triumph for women in STEM.
We are less than 2 weeks removed from Brat’s release, so its impact is far from fully understood. But as a gay man existing contemporarily to Charli XCX and the release of her magnum opus, and on behalf of the generations of twinks to follow, it behooves me to document the momentous events that led to the album’s release and adoption as The Best Album Ever by all humans on Earth.
Every person experienced this release differently, of course, but as a gay man living in Manhattan in his late 20s there’s a case to be made that I SHOULD be the definitive primary source. It is an honor to volunteer myself for this position, and I thank you in advance for your reverence toward the material and towards my future Nobel Prize for this work.
So, shall we dive into the herstory?
The Release of Von Dutch & 2 More Exquisite Singles
On February 29th 2024, Charli XCX released Brat’s lead single, “Von Dutch”.
And with it, the world entered into The Purge: Charli XCX. The song acted as a nitrous-powered assault on all who dared listen (and listen and listen), resulting in heavier, faster struts down the street and the arrogance necessary to break through glass ceilings. It is said (by me right now) that “Von Dutch” resulted in countless women becoming bosses, numerous overdue breakups with deadbeats, and so many of that one meme of Mary Jane in Spider Man defending Peter Parker but in real life.
After “Von Dutch” came two more pristine banger singles in “B2b” and “Club Classics” that acted like aftershocks to Von Dutch’s quake. Most notably, on “Club Classics”, Charli repeats “I wanna dance to me, me, me, me, me, me”. For those familiar with Charli’s lore, she famously doesn’t listen to a lot of music except for her own songs and those of her friends.
With “Club Classics”, this level of narcissism has officially become acceptable, even admirable, and means I no longer have to feel guilty for rereading my favorite newsletters that I wrote. Thanks, Charli, for freeing us from our modesty in the year of our Brat 2024.
PARTYGIRL Boiler Room Set @ Knockdown Center
On February 22nd 2024, Charli XCX hosted her RSVP record-breaking Boiler Room DJ set at Knockdown Center in Queens.
Now, I did not technically go to this event, but I did try very hard to go to this event, and I did observe the shit out of this event… so basically, I was there. Just as Charli’s marketing team wants me to feel… And, historically speaking, February 22nd comes before February 29th, but in my mind this event took place AFTER Von Dutch was released, and since I am the primary source of Brat history, so it is.
FOMO so intense that I have since convinced myself I was there.
(FULL DELUSIONAL PARAGRAPH INCOMING) So like I was saying, I was totally present at the event after Von Dutch had been released, and it was so fun and cool!!! I danced with Chris Black from How Long Gone and praised Julia Fox after she played her new song and gave a polite “no” to the 85 keys of blow that were offered to me and basically become part of PC Music. Just another night with the girls!!!
Charli inspired something new in me: FOMO so intense that I have since convinced myself I was there. So were you. And you and you. We were all there, and it was fucking iconic.
Charli XCX Performance of Charli XCX @ Williamsburg
On May 2nd 2024, Charli XCX put on a performance in Brooklyn for thousands of young and oft queer onlookers.
Was it a concert? No. Was it a DJ set? Also no. It was a weird and fantastic third thing: a performance of Charli XCX being Charli XCX.
She posted up on top of the black luxury SUV that took her to the “event” with two big speakers, played her own songs (as she is wont to do), and basked in the glory of being Charli XCX in the midst of her twink army (of which I’m a part).
She danced, she sang along (to herself), she stole phones from people’s hands to take videos (of herself); she was the Jesus to her twink disciples (again, of which I am one), except if Jesus had fun being Jesus and the disciples had fun being the disciples.
By the end, she was Twink-Master General of NYC, a title she holds to this very day.
360 Music Video & Final Single
On May 10th 2024, Charli XCX released her 4th and final single, “360”, as well as its accompanying WOMEN-filled music video.
While "360” is a highly accessible pop song, the video was a blatant propaganda machine aimed at those of us whose lifeblood is www.twitter.com, among whose ranks Charli and I are included.
The preview for the video included Rachel Sennott, Julia Fox, Chloe Cherry, and Gabbriette. But Charli would NOT want me to explain each of these people’s lore - she would prefer that those who don’t know continue not to know, and I must honor that.
For the historical record, here I will list a bunch of people and their involvement with the “360” song and music video. Your level of alienation is inversely proportional to how On-Twitter you are:
Opening including Rachel Sennott, Julia Fox, Chloe Cherry, Gabriette, and others
Later in the video we see Emma Chamberlain, Alex Consani, Hari Nef, Blizzy Mcguire, and, to close it out, Chloe Sevigny
Later on Naomi Campbell sang along to it in her TikTok with Tube Girl
In the remix Charli was joined by Robyn and Yung Lean
“If you don’t know, that means you’re not in the know!” - Charli XCX, probably
The video became an instant gay pregame music video regular, the highest accomplishment any music video can achieve.
Brat by Charli XCX
On June 7th 2024, Charli XCX released Brat.
Pulled from the Brat writeup in the 6/12 newsletter -
Brat. To be messy, to be hot, to be a bitch, to be sad, to be a girl, to be… you name it. I’m Brat, you’re Brat, we’re all Brat. Such is the power of Charli XCX’s 8th LP, Brat: Thanks to a daring, bombastic, fun as fuck rollout complete with 4 exquisite singles, and brought home by what is shaping up to be an instant classic of an album, the lexicon for the girls and gays (and those admirable few well-cultured straights) has been changed forever. Brat. While every Charli XCX album is a culmination of something (resentment for the industry, loneliness in COVID, amassing a killer lineup of indie pop friends, to name a few), Brat is the culmination of everything Charli XCX has learned and represented in her prolific decade plus career as a pop starlet: how to be a pioneering force, how to leverage the geniuses of PC Music, how to be fucking cool. Brat.
Brat
Besides the errant piano bridge (“Mean Girls”) or the odd flute/harp/strings combo (“Everything is romantic”), both of which play, Charli sticks to her and the PC Music crew’s super powers: Building songs out of every flavor of blustering, bouncy, blown out SYNTH. And here we have songs built out of gas leaks that slay (“Von Dutch”), radioactive basketballs bouncing on a hot pink Teflon court (“Mean Girls”), twinkly power ups from the likes of Animal Crossing (“Girl, so confusing”), and gooey blasts from Barbarella’s laser gun (“B2b”). But these songs are also built with Charli’s most plainspoken, diaristic, and profound lyrics ever; it is a groundbreaking and undeniable fusion of frank emotionality, innate world-building, and avant garde pop that only Charli XCX could deliver. BRAT!!!!!
Brat, Live @ Brooklyn Paramount
On June 11th 2024, Charli XCX held the opening night of her 4-stop Brat 2024 tour at Brooklyn Paramount.
Per Charli XCX, “a great artist is more than the songs; it’s the entire culture and space they inhabit”. And on Tuesday, June 11th 2024, the space was Brooklyn Paramount, and Charli’s Brat-world and culture were the sole, feral inhabitants.
My friend and I arrived at the concert 2 hours before doors, and we were greeted by a long line of all things BRAT. People in every shade of green remotely close to the Official Brat Green®️, adorned with bedazzled “BRAT” lettering or printed with Brat song titles (or even a deviant Lorde song title). I saw a head-to-toe recreation of Charli’s look at her Boiler Room set. I saw Brat-green wigs and Brat-green highlights. I saw fervor in the form of attire like I’ve not seen outside of a Ren Faire.
Upon entering the venue, Charli edged us into the musical world of Brat in a variety of ways. First, the pre-show playlist was set at an intentionally lower-than-usual volume so as to require extra diligence to catch the inclusions of her own songs, including unreleased remixes of Brat tracks. Then, the opener, The Dare, who co-produced the Brat bonus track “Guess”, performed his throwback indie sleaze music à la We Are Scientists or The Wombats - AND à la the era of bloghouse/electroclash that inspired Brat.
For the lead up to the Charli concert, there were Charli concerts everywhere for those with eyes to see them… But with Charli XCX, is “concert” even the correct term?
Decidedly, No —
Charli, in typical Charli fashion, entered the stage as the lone performer, a role she maintained for the rest of the show. She opened the show with album opener and certified smash (#73 on Billboard Hot 100 as we SPEAK) in front of a perfectly hideous “brat” curtain, which she would later tear down to reveal… nothing just more lights!!! And if you think that’s a brazen act of rebellion, the only other curtain that came down during the show was a plain navy curtain that framed her in a rectangle for her performance of “Girl, so confusing”; it was unclear if there was symbolism, but it definitely highlighted the “Girl” part of the song title with the girl-in-rectangle of it all.
“I’m not really inspired by music when I make albums. I’m more inspired by an atmosphere or a feeling or a persona.” - Charli XCX, on films being inspirational for her albums
The show included a grand total of 3 more-or-less plain backdrops, a blinding array of ONLY white (no other color) lights, one broken light rope, and Charli XCX with a mic and a glass of wine. The theatrics were reserved for the star herself, as she traversed all over the stage, choosing to add live vocals here-and-there over pronounced backing tracks/masters being streamed directly from the record; by definition it WAS a live Charli XCX show due to the fact she was there and performing and contributing vocals, but it more so served as a listening party with the creator herself as the hype MC.
And a fucking fantastic listening party it was. Charli XCX was the ringleader to the Brat circus, the host and waitress to the Brat feast. All 15 Brat tracks were played, along with TWELVE other Charli XCX classics. For my money “Von Dutch” was the showstopper (and one of my favorite concert moments of all time) as the entire crowd bounced up and down to new heights, hands raised, powered by the NOS emitted from the track itself.
She closed the show with what felt like 5 different closers - in order:
Von Dutch remix ft. Addison Rae’s TikTok-iconic scream
365 (album closer)
party 4 u (fan favorite slow burn banger)
Vroom Vroom (if you’re here you know)
I Love It (when a song slaps it slaps)
It was a night of excess via focused staples, maximalism via minimalism, a world built solely on the art and the artist and her lore.
“Music alone is not important. I need an artist to create the world.” - Charli XCX
Oh, and her lore was in attendance too.
In the middle of the concert I peeped at someone’s phone as they got an Insta DM from a friend that said “LORDE IS THERE”. LORDE, about whom “Girl, so confusing” is DEFINITELY written, and whose song “Royals” people request from Charli XCX even now. The elusive New Zealand pop princess, Lorde. And while Lorde would definitely take home the Best Supporting trophy, the supporting characters did not stop there! Julia Fox and Gabriette of the 360 music video! Fellow cheeky British pop icon Lilly Allen! Matty Healy who is in the same band as her fiancé and is sort of mentioned in “Sympathy is a knife”! Who proposed to Gabbriette that night! (This isn’t a cry for help I promise I actually like knowing this shit!!)
Brat was on stage, Brat was in the crowd, Brat was in the VIP section. Brat seeped into the walls of the Brooklyn Paramount until it was a Brat amplifier, spreading Brat like a slinky, pouty, volatile wildfire that we are fanning violently to this day.
Memeification, Celebration, and Memorialization of Brat
It is June 19th 2024, and we are still living amid the Brattaissance.
Like with the mainstream adoption of AI technology or the Industrial Revolution before it, there is now a world before Brat and a world after Brat. There is so much more to learn about what the post-Brat world has to offer — you and I are only laying the groundwork for the Brat scholars of the future. But what we know right now is…
Brat: To be messy, to be hot, to be a bitch, to be sad, to be a girl, to be… you name it. I’m Brat, you’re Brat, we’re all Brat.
Brat!
