Charli XCX’s sixth album “BRAT”and a string of recent remixes have taken over the internet. You’ve likely seen the bright green profile pictures overlaid with Arial font, the phrase “brat summer” or the viral TikTok dance to the track “Apple” dominating your feed recently.
The electronic/club record’s marketing strategy, relatable content and relevance to today’s youth has made it a cultural phenomenon, sparking new nightlife and club events, and even reaching political campaigns, brand promotions and LN students.
“I’ve been listening to Charli for a minute, but I definitely didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did,.” sophomore Madeline Hunt said. “I don’t think anyone predicted how big it would be.”
“BRAT” is a triumph for English musician Charlotte Aitchinson. She’s been releasing music since 2008 under the name Charli XCX. She released her debut album, “14,” at 14 years old. In the early 2010s, she released a set of hit singles such as “I Love It,” with Icona Pop, “Fancy” with Iggy Azalea and “Boom Clap.” Since then, she’s mostly been gone from the public consciousness until the release of “BRAT.”
“Charli’s music is just so raw. I mean, I listen to a lot of music, and I’ve never heard anything like hers,” senior Isabella Morris said.“You wouldn’t expect pop to have so much emotion, but it really does.”
After the release of her 2014 album “Sucker,” Aitchinson pivoted her sound to a more experimental and electronic one, garnering a cult following with the mixtapes “Number 1 Angel,” “Pop 2” and quarantine album “how i’m feeling now” made interactively with her fans mid-lockdown. While scratching at the surface of mainstream consciousness with releases like the club classic track “Vroom Vroom,” her 2023 offering for the critically acclaimed film “Barbie,” “Speed Drive,” and her 2022 disco-pop album “Crash,” she hadn’t managed to reach the same level of success until “BRAT”’s release.
“Von dutch,” the lead single of “BRAT” was released in February 2024, to critical acclaim but meager chart performance. Aitchinson had officially announced the album the day prior, as well as unveiling the now-iconic cover art, which was initially met with criticism and outrage from fans wishing to see Aitchinson’s face and body such as X user @itboygrey, who said “no, your album cover is just ugly babe, hope this helps♥️”. This outcry led her to dub the backlash as “mysoginistic[sic] and boring” on X.
After releasing a remix of the single, “Von dutch featuring Addison Rae and A.G. Cook,”the general public received their first glimpse of the popularity “BRAT” would achieve as the track went viral across several social media platforms. Aitchinson proceeded to release three more singles from the album, “B2b,” “Club classics” and “360,” which all performed well within Aitchinson’s fanbase but went relatively unnoticed in the general public’s eyes.
“I think it [“BRAT”] reached the success it did because at this time, we kind of needed that kind of new fresh perspective, especially when a lot of people hadn’t heard of Charli XCX or her music,” said sophomore Madeline Hunt. “And I just think there’s been a lot of some of the same kind of stuff coming out and her songs just had a really different energy that was really refreshing, and I think it was bound to go viral.”
On June 7, 2024, “BRAT” was released to critical acclaim and quickly went viral. Its popularity only increased as she released the deluxe version, “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not” and several remixes, such as “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde,” “360 featuring Robyn and Yung Lean,” and “Guess featuring Billie Eilish.” Aitchinson achieved some of her greatest chart success to date, with tracks “360,” “Apple” and “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at #41, #51, and #12 respectively, marking her largest chart success since 2014’s “Boom Clap,” almost a decade later. Furthermore, her remix album “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” will be released in mid-October of 2024.
“The whole album was a cultural reset. It really brought back pop and club music, which we desperately needed,” said Morris.
While the success of “BRAT” was largely unexpected, the success it achieved is greatly due to its genius marketing strategy. The iconic lime green cover is incredibly simple for listeners to customize and use to make memes, profile pictures and other images. This tactic was furthered with the aid of the Brat Generator website, launched by Aitchinson shortly after the album’s announcement.
“BRAT” also plays heavily into currently relevant internet culture, such as the “360” music video portraying a quest for the next so-called “weird hot internet girl,” featuring celebrity names such as Chloё Sevigny, Emma Chamberlain, Gabbriette Bechtel and Julia Fox, among others (the latter two are also referenced in the lyrics of “360,” where Aitchinson sings “Call me Gabbriette, you’re so inspired” and “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia”).
The album’s vulnerability and honesty also contribute to the relatability and relevance among today’s youth. The album switches between confident, catchy anthems such as the hectic “365,” “360” and “Club classics,” to incredibly down-to-earth explorations of Aitchinson’s thoughts, insecurities, and mental space. Songs like “Girl, so confusing,” “I might say something stupid” and “I think about it all the time,” explore Aitchinson’s thoughts on “confusing” relationships between women, Aitchinson’s place in the music industry, and pondering whether or not she would want to have a child. This constant switch between identities makes it relatable to the ever-changing mindset described by many teens.
“As a teenage girl, I find ‘BRAT’ relatable. The whole idea of brat summer is to be messy, embrace your mistakes, and have fun, all things I strive to do anyway,” Morris said. “But also the album has layers. Some songs make you want to go to your local club and others put you in your feels. It’s a very versatile album.”
The album is also bolstered by its previously mentioned remixes, such as “Girl, so confusing” featuring Lorde,” a song which, in its original version, was made about Aitchinson’s self-described confusing relationship with Lorde. Lorde responds in her verse, delivering the now-iconic line “let’s work it out on the remix,” which was quickly popularized by X users.
“The remix with Lorde was a really cool way to see the two people who I admire reconnect and redevelop their friendship,” said Hunt. “I think it was a really insightful view on the complexity of female relationships.”
Other remixes followed, such as “Talk talk featuring Troye Sivan” and “Guess featuring Billie Eilish,” where Aitchinson changes her original lyrics, instrumentals and other key aspects of each track as to better represent the artist featured and their verses, which venture into different genres and reaching new audiences.
“The remixes are so awesome. I mean the ‘Guess’ remix was genius, and so was the ‘Talk talk’ remix.” Morris said. “Adding different singers onto something that was already amazing was mind blowing.”
Aitchinson has also followed other trends as a means to promote “BRAT,” such as her recent collaboration with the viral Roblox fashion game “Dress To Impress.” New clothing items were designed, inspired by the album, as well as her songs “Von dutch” and “Apple” being played while on the runway and waiting room, which were both redesigned to fit the “BRAT” theme.
“BRAT” also unexpectedly reached perhaps the opposite of its target audience recently, when, after Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential election, Aitchinson tweeted, “kamala IS brat.” The tweet accumulated over 50 million views, leading the official “Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ)” account on X to change their banner image to a brat-inspired text reading “kamala hq.” This choice baffled conservative media and older voters but still proved intelligent for Harris, as her association with “BRAT” and its music has given her more reach, according to The Guardian.
“As a society, we have allowed it to just reach this level of popularity with Kamala Harris using it and all sorts of companies using it in their branding,” Hunt said. “I think it’s just kind of iconic in that way.”
This movement has made many people more aware of Harris’ campaign and inspired many young people to want to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
“I think “BRAT” is such a cultural moment, and I mean I think it will stay relevant for a while,” said Hunt. “It really influenced so many different things that are super important in today’s society.”
