Charli XCX Reinvents Brat Album, Expanding Creative Vision with Surprising Collaborations for 2024

BRAT AND IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BUT ALSO STILL BRAT Charli XCX is on a campaign to enshrine brat as 2024’s trademark in spite of the season, and set to be remembered as a fever dream that will mythologize the 2020s as a golden decade in artists’ creative liberties for future generations. In the midst of her “SWEAT TOUR” alongside Troye Sivan, the British artist revealed she was working on publishing a second edition of brat based on the very much awaited releases speculated since the publication of Brat and It's the Same but There's Three More Songs So It's Not deluxe album, along with the publicly acclaimed remixes. 

The album that turned her into a more sophisticated 2000’s English rave nostalgic, also helped her become Metacritic’s highest rated album of 2024, and her most successful release up until now. Brat has (once again) been republished as part of an even broader concept. Which, all in all, will allow her to become more of a cultural icon than she already was, as well as celebrate her as a creator for her unhinged and unquestionable versatility. 

The confection of Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat has been in the making for, at least, as long as brat (the original version) has been out in the market. Some even before the official publishing last June. Starting with the release of Von Dutch ft A. G. Cook and Addison Rae back on March 24th, the artist has amplified to 26 the number of collaborators who now celebrate the diversity of the whole and belong to a specific and relevant pop culture moment. 

The tracklist, which was disclosed at her Orlando performance last Sunday night, includes singers, producers, songwritters and DJs who have taken part in the process of reinventing brat’s tracklist. The lists versatilizes itself and goes from avant and art-pop singer Caroline Polachek, to alternative and indie creators like the japanese house or the 1975, to folk classics like Bon Iver, and to Spanish rappers like BB Trickz. 

All involved and tailored into an arrange that, despite its many contrasts, makes complete sense. Its main and most remarkable alterations have taken place in I Might Say Something Stupid, as the now “featuring the 1975 and Jon Hopkins” includes a slowing of the base’s pace with an alternative (and now classic) George Daniel outro. 

However, the greatest surprise was Ariana Grande’s incorporation to Sympathy is a knife which, despite maintaining the original beat, includes lyrics exposing the well-known abuse she has received from fans and haters over the last few years about her body, relationships, and her artistic decisions. 

This new version of the album, far from a “deluxe” type of product, represents a remake of the original sound and portrays its main and founding intention: creation based on the praise of production. Which, all in all, transforms it into a double album that extends the concept of “brat” and immortalizes it as it is: an everlasting club classic.