One of the first things we say to ourselves when listening to brat is that Charli XCX’s audacity is what allows her to stand out. She thus belongs to the exclusive category of artists whose proposal does not respond to current mainstream fashion, but who remains accessible due to its high quality and its catchy side. Charli
The one who is engaged to the drummer of the group The 1975, George Daniel, has some lyrics that convey romance well. But she doesn’t stop at that, on a record that speaks of love as it speaks of forbidden desire, self-confidence, doubt, mourning, femininity and feminism. Some pieces are simply fun, in their rhythm as in their words. The first single (and opening song) of the record, 360, offers a direct reference to its belonging to the universe of hyperpop, as an exercise in affirmation.
Von Dutch, a little later, reaffirms the same self-confidence, on a dance theme intended for raves. Charli XCX presented it for the first time during a Boiler room performance (these formerly underground electronic music parties broadcast online), last February in Brooklyn. The event attracted a record number of participants, a demonstration of the dominance of Charli
Sympathy is a knife, one of the catchiest songs on the album, speaks of insecurity with great candor. Are we making fun of her behind her back? Why does she feel so insecure around others? The song is as successful instrumentally as it is lyrically, the insistent tempo directly referencing the paranoid thoughts it describes.
On the magnificent, slower So I, the singer speaks about the death of the artist Sophie, her mentor and friend, a pioneer of hyperpop. From dance music to supercharged pop, filled with pieces intended for club dance floors, brat is a provocation, an exploration, a perfect amalgam of vulnerability and blatant self-affirmation.
She could have made a more conventional turn, but Charli XCX does as she pleases and that’s all the better. If she does not get rid of the label here which confines her to this stratum between the underground and the general public, we realize thanks to brat that Charli XCX actually seems very comfortable in this in-between. It even ensures here that it is one of the best in its category.