- 2024-06-10
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MUSIC
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Charli xcx Releases New Album “BRAT”
British singer-songwriter Charli xcx released her sixth studio album “BRAT” on June 7, 2024.
The album is her first body of work in two years since the 2022 album “Crash”.
Also it is the first release under her new label Atlantic Records.
The album comprises a 15-track, featuring a club sound reminiscent of the illegal London rave scene where Charli xcx started performing when she was 14 or 15.
Produced by A. G. Cook, Charli xcx, Cirkut, EASYFUN, El Guincho, George Daniel, Gesaffelstein, Hudson Mohawke, Jon Shave, Lotus IV and Omer Fedi.
Charli xcx said of the album, “It's very direct, it's very honest, and very kind of conversational. The lyrics are kind of like texts I would send to friends, I suppose it's sort of like being in my group chat, I guess.”
She continued, “I think I was just sort of like, personally quite bored of these overly metaphorical, overly descriptive lyrics. I kind of wanted to go with something very kind of like in your face and aggressive lyrically for this record. And that sort of entailed just kind of like getting straight to the point, and really just saying things the way you would say them in a conversation. It just felt like the character of the record, really.”- Charli xcx shared on social media, “Thank you so much for all the love and support you have all shown for this music, this campaign and for me - at my most pure, my most charli, my most brat. To all the angels... I think we all feel that something quite special is happening rn.. I love you all. This album was the product of 1000s of phonecalls, texts, emails, conversations, debates and discussions with multiple different amazing people who make up my epic longstanding team. We went back and forth on deciding which production tools to ban vs which to lean on, we tested hair texture over and over again to land on the perfect good/bad/professional/unprofessional texture, we road tested language, autotune, font, pixelation and spoke constantly about pop theory, narrative, the concept of desire and of course narrowed down around 65 shades of green to the final most ultimate most brat green.”
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Charli xcx explained about some tracks for the album.
“Club classics”
“Club classics started in George's kitchen. I was talking about missing hearing Sophie's music as much as I used to at parties and ended up turning this thought into a song about only really wanting to hear my own music and my friends' music at clubs (true).”
“Talk talk”
“I haven't really done it too much on this album, actually, this is one of the few songs it's about love and specifically, me meeting my fiance, which sounds like really horrible and scary to say that but whatever. So this is like one of the few songs about that. And this song is actually about like us at the NME Awards like a few years ago. So sort of staring at each other's tables, but not really like approaching each other. So I feel like the message of the song is just like, be bold and like, go and talk to your crush.
I mean, I think those three themes. They accurate themes, and I think honesty, almost sort of like brutal honesty at points is sort of the overarching, feeling. I think I'm saying things that I think people in my position aren't normally supposed to say. And I think that showing that level of volatility and vulnerability is, yeah, something that I think I'm quite proud of, actually.
“Von dutch”
“So, the song's called 'Von Dutch' and I guess it's kind of about how sometimes you just feel like there are people in the industry, or maybe it's not even in the industry, this could be like applied to anyone's life whether they're working in, you know, our industry or not. But you know how sometimes there's just those people who you know are fucking watching you. You know they're watching your every move. You know they're commenting on it behind your back, probably in a kinda bitchy way, but then they're so nice to your face and you're just like what the fuck. They have so much criticism of you and the way that you do things, in almost an obsessive kind of a way. Where it's like they can't look away.
Don't get me wrong, I have had that feeling with other artists in my past, not really right now, but definitely have. I feel like it's cyclical, it comes around when you're feeling your strongest and most confident maybe you don't feel it, anyways whatever.
This song is kind of about that feeling of “ugh, I know you're fucking watching me”. So if you're fucking watching, I'm gonna be a fucking star. I feel like everybody has that moment sometimes, when they know people are talking about them, and you're like fine, fucking talk: I'm that girl, watch me, and you can talk about me more. So this is that, this song is about that.”
“So I”
“This song is about a person (SOPHIE) who is really really special to me who is no longer with us - my heart is beating really fast... it's called 'So I'.”
“B2b”
“B2b started with a last minute dinner at the restaurant overlooking the louvre and ended in a studio in LA with a load of equipment covered in whipped cream (also true).”
“I think about it all the time” via Rolling Stone
“It was crazy seeing her standing in the same clothes she's always worn, but now she has this completely different perspective on life than I do. She's not enforcing that on me; it's just a fact. She's not alive for the same reasons that I am now. Am I less of a woman if I don't have a kid? Will I feel like I've missed out on my purpose in life? I know we're not supposed to say that, but it's this biological and social programming. There's a lot of pressure on women to not talk about that stuff super openly, especially not in pop music or in music generally; we're supposed to be sexy and free and fun and wild. My circumstance involves me making a decision and being like, 'I'm gonna come off my birth control. I'm not gonna tour. I'm going to see what George wants to do, and then we're gonna try for a baby. I feel like a kid; I don't feel like I can make that decision. You have to make the decision - because we have a clock.” - source : Apple Music
