Are you bumpin’ that? All summer, I, along with the masses, have been listening to the recent Charli xcx release, “Brat.” And if you haven’t been keeping up with Charli xcx updates, I got you. On Oct. 11, the mastermind behind the album that rocked all of our summers is releasing “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.”
To provide context for you, my “Brat” Summer began in February when Charli xcx released the first single from “Brat,” “Von dutch.” From here, I was ecstatic about what this new era would bring, never expecting the commercial success and popularization of my very niche interests at the time. Soon after this, “360” was released, followed by the release of music videos for the two “Brat” singles. It was during this time that we saw the first of the “Brat” remixes. In the first wave of remixes, we saw the “Von dutch” remixes, “Von dutch a. g. cook remix featuring addison rae” as well as “Von dutch remix with skream and benga.” Following this, a remix for the song “360” was released, titled “360 featuring robyn and yung lean.” Then, on June 7, “Brat,” the album, was released.
Some would say the rest is history. From being involved in the United States presidential election to having millions of people dancing to the song, “Apple,” which is about generational trauma, “Brat” was the most influential album of this summer. And now we get more of it.
On June 21, “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” was released as the first remix since the album drop. A song detailing the complications of being a girl and the misunderstanding of Charli xcx’s friendship with Lorde in the spotlight, the song gained a lot of buzz. Following this, if you weren’t aware, on June 10, we got “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not.” As the title suggests, this gave us three more songs in the Brat-verse to bump. A song titled “Guess” may be familiar to you due to its remix, later released with Billie Eilish, which was another Brat moment that sent the world into storm.
Towards the end of the summer, news reports such as those from Pitchfork, Dazed, AntiArt, and other popular media outlets, claimed that Brat Summer was over. It was on July 25 that Charli xcx responded on Instagram by posting screenshots of these headlines with the caption, “oh? see u next week :).” Proving them wrong on Aug. 1, “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” was released, being the second to last remix of “Brat” before “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” was released on Sept. 12.
On Sept. 12, Charli xcx announced “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat,” the long-awaited “Brat” remix album that comes out Oct. 11. With rumored collaborations with Shygirl, Bladee, Taylor Swift, Kesha, and many more artists with such an influential craft, this remix album is going to keep the Brat season all year long. Unfortunately, however, the Brat wall will not be making a return for the foreseeable future.
