Review Score:

A

June 19 / 2024 –

A

It’s brat time! Yeah? You’re bad, aren’t you? And you need to be punished? Well, Charli xcx is here to do it. 

Sorry about that last part.

The hyperpop princess returns with her finest work to date. It’s a collection of songs that bring those danceable rhythms you’ve come to expect from Charli. But along with that comes a surprising level of depth and versatility. With brat, Charli takes the sounds and genres that she has helped to pioneer for a decade and fine tunes them into an all killer no filler pop masterpiece. 

Charli starts the album by defending her throne on “360” – a great opener. “Von dutch” makes me wish I was in a club. And I hate being in a club. So consider that a testament to how sincerely hard this song goes.

But ultimately, it’s the deep cuts that really hit the hardest for me. “Talk talk” has a wildly catchy hook, with a bridge to rival it. The choice of synths on each and every track is tasteful and calculated. And not only is that exemplified on “Talk talk”, but also on equally catchy tracks like “Apple”, which bridges the gap between the bouncy, sing-a-long type tracks and the more laid back, contemplative ones. Though “Apple” has a similar subject matter to “I think about it all the time”, it feels careless and haphazard. It’s as if Charli is acknowledging her own hesitance to “grow the seeds” by putting it out of her head. 

Not all of the tracks carry such weight. With such highs, tracks like “Rewind” or “B2b” feel like afterthoughts in comparison. They aren’t bad, but they’re the closest things to skips that this album has in my opinion.

“Mean girls” is my personal favorite. The piano breakdown is one of those rare musical moments when I sit straight up in my chair with my mouth agape. A celebration of the “mean girls” of the modern era, the track could easily fit a dull formula. But instead, Charli finishes the track over a triumphant, plucky piano beat. The album’s tribute to the late SOPHIE is quite touching, as is the open and honest “I might say something stupid”.

Charli is probably at the top of her game right now. Frankly, I don’t know how this album could be topped, as it’s certainly a highlight. Not just for Charli, but for the genre and for the year.

Review Score:

A

Gubb wrote this review. You can’t get mad at Gubb.