BATTLE OF THE BEATS #1: Charli XCX - "Brat"

Little needs to be said about the vice grip Charlotte Emma Aitchinson’s sixth studio album had on 2024’s social media landscape, its adolescents, and its PR teams. The signature lime green background and blurred letters on the cover chemically burned themselves into this year's collective consciousness and gave marketing managers a perfect excuse for handing in promo material that looked like they started designing it ten minutes before the deadline. “Brat” felt like a triumphant return to form after her fifth studio album “Crash” disappointed fans with a lack of innovation and a lukewarm sound that did not do Charli’s reputation as pop music’s underground appreciator any justice.

Cultural impact aside, how does the Green album stack up musically? “360,” the album's opener, starts with a jumpy synth lead, courtesy of it’s most important contributor outside of maybe Charli XCX. To electronica aficionados, the name Alexander Guy Cook, abbreviated to A. G. Cook, will ring all sorts of bells. The head of London’s “PC Music”-Label is often accredited with pushing Hyperpop into the mainstream. He also executive produced “brat,” and his influence can be felt from the very first note. “360” has Charlotte oozing confidence over bouncy 808’s, referencing models like Gabriette and Julia Fox who also appear in the music video. It’s an opener that makes it abundantly clear what the album is about.

The follow-up, “Club classics,” mixes elaborate vocal chops, sassy lyrics, and an intoxicating hook into just that – a future club classic. Charli shouts out multiple electronic artists: A. G. Cook, Hudson Mohawke – yes, the “Cbat” one – and most importantly the late SOPHIE, whose production on Charli’s 2016 hit “Vroom Vroom” ushered in a new stylistic era for her and who has a whole song dedicated to her later on. “Sympathy is a knife” sees her shed the brat persona for the first time, introspecting about insecurities, external perception, and even suicide. Fans soon picked up on a few of the more cryptic references, speculating that the song is dedicated to pop-titan Taylor Swift. The instrumental adds a stark contrast to the heavy subject matter with a blasting bass synth and oddly melodic string hits in the chorus. The moodier lyrics continue on “I might say something stupid,” produced by French heavyweight Gesaffelstein, with Charli reflecting on fame and her public perception over a much more melancholy instrumental. While short, the track offers a nice break from the harsh club sounds of prior songs with soothing synths and autotuned vocals.

“Talk Talk” is a classic pop song about a relationship in its earliest phase. A kick-clap rhythm and some house-inspired hi-hats give the song its signature beat, which seems like a callback to Charli’s earlier sound. It’s accompanied by some sophisticatedly layered synths and a text that might not explain the whole world in three minutes, but maybe it never had to. All in all, it’s a nice palate cleanser before one of the more popular and viral songs from “brat,” “Von Dutch.” Fashion-forward readers might recall the brand of the same name that became popular for their loud and stylish trucker hats. They were a stable piece in the wardrobes of plenty of celebrities in the early 2000s. For three minutes that feel like 30 seconds, Charli perfectly embodies the attitude of the brand’s illustrious wearers: confident, boundary-pushing, and party-chic. The instrumental by P.C. Music wonderchild EASYFUN layers heavy bass synths over a driving house beat and makes for an exhilarating backdrop to the one (wo-)man show that is Charli XCX.

While lacking the mainstream appeal of “360” or “Von Dutch,” “Everything is romantic” still stands as one of the album's highlights – lyrically, melodically, and sonically. The credits feature Spanish producer El Guincho, whose boundary-pushing production on Rosalia’s “Motomami” and FKA Twigs’ “Caprisongs” made him a household name in the music industry. It uses colorful language to paint a Mediterranean fantasy of “falling in love – again and again.” The rather abrupt transition into a hectic, over-the-top techno track catches most off guard at first listen, but the song shines most in its atmospheric third “act.” Its follow-up “Rewind” is intoxicatingly catchy, nostalgic, and guaranteed to age well. As the title suggests, Ms. Aitchinson spends much of the song reminiscing over her life before being Charli XCX over a two-part instrumental. Its heavenly transition from a bold, in-your-face club sound to a more spaced-out, melancholy, and melodic synth beat is one of the album's strongest moments. A melancholy look into the past seems to be a common topic of the British singers work, with "1999," one of the highlights of her 2019 album "Charli," expressing a similar desire to "turn back time." The feature of the song, Australian pop icon Troye Sivan, also co-hedalined her 2024 "Sweat"-Tour.

“So I” is as close to a ballad as “brat” gets, a heartfelt musical message to the late SOPHIE. Her untimely death in 2021 tragically cut short the career of what otherwise could have been one of the most influential and successful trans artists in recent memory. The production is notably toned down, fitting the mood of the song, while the lyrics immerse the listener in her conflicted feelings about her talented collaborator. “Girl, so confusing,” the next song, suffered the terrible fate of having a remix more popular than the original. It feels strangely incomplete without Lorde, a call without response, amplified by the two songs having very similar instrumentals and the remix obviously being a lot more wholesome. “Apple’s” melody is sugary sweet and sticks like superglue but the song's overall sound lacks a lot of the abrasiveness and grit that makes “brat” “brat.” It was partly written by the dynamic duo of Lotus IV and Noonie Bao, two swedes in a long line of talented songwriters to come from the country of ABBA and Max Martin. The instrumentals upbeat mood also sharply contrasts with her lyrical exploration of her family issues, creating an interesting dynamic that increases the songs shelf-life dramatically.

One of the few songs released as singles before “brat” officially released on June the 7th, “B2b” is repetitive, almost hypnotizing, but its expert 80s-like production, its simple and straightforward lyrics and its clubby feel make it a great calling card for the album.        “Mean girls” is not only the album's most obvious 2000s reference, but it also does some much-needed elaborating on the titular “brat”-persona Charli represents/explains throughout the album. The lasses-fair attitude, the long slim cigarettes, the heroin chic – “Mean girls” is an ode to the fashion-forward, the Indie-sleazy, the club rats. Unsurprisingly, the track was co-produced by Hudson Mohawke, a former signee of Kanye Wests “GOOD Music” label. “I think about it all the time” is a final serious note on the album. The lyrics are wonderfully moving as Charli breaks with a lot of the “brat”-traits, considering motherhood, pondering upon her future and even getting a little existential at the end. This song definitively proves that there is more to her current persona than just “bumpin’ that.”

Ironically, these are the words the album's fulminant closer “365” opens on. The first part of the song ties back to the beginning of the album nicely. It consists of a sped-up sample from “360,” complete with new synths and bouncier drums. Over a little more than two minutes, the track devolves into a rough, grimy techno track with an acid-house synth turning into a bass-heavy, stomping track worthy of closing the illegal 2000s London rave “brat” aspires to be. “365” is one of the album's brightest highlights. It’s energetic, all-out, in-your-face, and sonically abrasive to an extent very rarely heard in pop music.

“Brat” is not only an expertly produced, well-written, and intoxicatingly catchy piece of work, it’s also a milestone of Hyperpop’s slow takeover of (Non-Hyper)Pop. Combining Charli XCX’s fantastic voice and her potential to be a figurehead for an entire “aesthetic” and A. G. Cook’s sonic brilliance and vision make for an album that feels as complete as can be. It starts on a high note, it ends on a high note and it never fails to balance upbeat and melancholy tones in between. Furthermore, it proved that Charli is more than just a niche pop artist whose bread and butter is referencing underground music to an underground audience. “Brat’s” financial, cultural, and critical success is sure to make waves in all sorts of circles. One can only hope that this willingness to experiment with sound and tone and include new and exciting genre influences into a release from a mainstream artist with the backing of a big and powerful studio like Atlantic catches on.

Read about the second contender of the Battle of the Beats "Billie Eilish" here.

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PHOTO BY Raph Pour-Hashemi/raphph