"I'm famous, but not quite," says Charli XCX on her 10th album. The admission is as bold, blunt, challenging and vulnerable as the album on which it appears. Brat is a hedonistic, ultraviolet collection of songs whose thumping - slightly disorienting - club beats more than succeed in their aim of “capturing a feeling of chaos”. Over thudding bass lines, you can imagine glasses of vodka and coke shuddering on the bar – imagine Jurassic Park, but the T rex is a subwoofer.
Across the album, the artist born Charlotte Aitchison blurts out the contradictions of relishing her cool status as a “cult classic” while still fretting over her weight and whether she “deserves commercial success” – all the while, sharply aware that it means little in the grand scheme of things.
This story is from the June 07, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the June 07, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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