Charli XCX

I keep switching between loving and hating it. At any rate I feel happy for her. I want her to win.

I kept thinking it reminded me of something else and just realized “So I” is very similar to “no one dies from love”… a song I discovered via the ILM 2022 EOY poll.

"So I" is beautiful and feels very honest about grief. the line about not knowing how to react and watching her dance online ..

other highlights for me are "mean girls" - that piano breakdown (wtf??) into the end is glorious. and "the girl so confusing" - does a great job communicating the appeal of a frienemy relationship

other than that it's a little hit or miss for me, maybe it'll grow on me idk. production is consistently a joy to listen to though.

Seems like she could have said nothing

I kept thinking it reminded me of something else and just realized “So I” is very similar to “no one dies from love”… a song I discovered via the ILM 2022 EOY poll.

Ugh disregard that first line, left over from a previous comment

"Mean Girls" is the only song here I really dislike. Possibly because it's pretty obviously a Dimes Square/Red Scare tribute.

It is impressive that in a spring/summer where nearly every female pop star dropped an album (Beyonce, Arianna, Taylor, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello) BRAT feels like it's getting the most love.

lol is the camila cabello album any good?

It helps that Charli has always had the critics on her side, is perceived as an underdog in mainstream pop and has an album that flows as a mix and has very few duds in it. It’s also very meta and confessional which always wins points. Feels like it could’ve been her farewell album if it failed.

The Dua Lipa was disappointing, Camila Cabello is trying to find an identity without nailing it and the rest of them are doing fine.

Also it might just be my perception but it seems to me like Ariana, Taylor and Beyonce stopped any campaigning for their albums after release.

Oh no wait I see Ariana was doing “the boy is mine”single promotion recently.

i think very few ppl would say the beyonce, ariana, taylor, dua, billie albums are the best of their careers — in some cases not even anywhere close — whereas all the charli fans i know rate this is as very close to their favorite album of hers if not above all of them. there is real genuine enthusiasm for the music that is helping charli transcend her baseline audience relative to bigger artists

I’d say the Billie Eilish one is probably her best so far but it’s not operating in the same level as Brat where the album does feel like it’s achieving a vision. The Billie Eilish album sounds all over the place in comparison.

If y'all are looking for an example of someone converted by this album, hi!

nice!

I wouldn't say I've been converted by this album per se but it feels like it meets the moment in a way I don't think any of her other albums since the debut did for me.

('How I'm Feeling Now', which came out on my birthday 4 years ago, might have gotten there, but I was largely distracted by, first, my birthday, and then by The 1975's Notes on a Conditional Form the following week and thereafter)

I think it narrows down to… if I was in my early 30s (as charli is) instead of my late 30s this would be my favorite thing in the world. I think I’m frustrated with it because it reminds me of how old I am. I would have loved to have music like this be popular 10 years ago.

It makes me feel like the neighbor complaining about the awesome party next door.

This is a me thing obviously. The album is great in the right context. It will probably age terribly which is why I’m not 100% on board with it, but this album is not trying to be indisposable.

Random question but this is the thread for her, so: do any other Charli songs sound like "Valentine"?

being gay is so interesting cuz i’m like “the entire world is listening to brat rn it’s crazy” meanwhile all top 100 spots on billboard are occupied by people i’ve never heard of with names like “Blickford Crawfish” and “Zuff”

— P.E. Moskowitz (@_pem_pem) July 2, 2024

I am an English Professor who turned 50 this year and I am really enjoying this album. I recognise I am not target market.

the Camila Cabelo record is excellent… is it possible that there is no Camila thread or Fifth harmony thread?

i'm fully on board with this after a second listen. the only thing i don't like here is the 'i want a baby' song. personal hangup there definitely. 'sympathy is a knife', that stuff about buying a gun and casual mention of suicide, lots of big emotions there sharply communicated. 'everything is romantic' is so affirmative, again really sharp about it. songs like 'talk talk' and 'rewind' are just sweet, that outro on 'rewind' is the sound of nostalgia. 'apple' i still don't really remember lol. '365' god ok it's a little too drug fueled for me tbh but for the drug fans i hear the blast-off. my favorite thing here is still the second half of "mean girls". i wonder who played the piano part? it sounds like someone actually played it - pretty impressive! anyway that hook puts a big smile on my face.

i'm fully on board with this after a second listen. the only thing i don't like here is the 'i want a baby' song. personal hangup there definitely.

You mean “I think about it all the time”? It’s one of my favorite ones in here because I love those tiny sounding clippy drums. Reminds me of LCD’s “someone great” which might be a conscious reference as that one is about having an abortion.

Oh wait just checked and it’s about the death of james’ therapist actually… I remember reading it was about a miscarriage or an abortion and I guess it’s not.

the Camila Cabelo record is excellent…

lil nas x is decent on 'he knows'. 'i luv it' makes me feel like i need to pop a dramamine. very spring breakers video. i wish i liked her voice more but it's still just too pretty bows and rainbows for me even as she tries to go harder.

production on those tracks is trying new things but doesn't really gel imo.

I cranked the album today and while I’ve got over my more extreme positivity, I’m left wondering whether “sympathy” might be her single best song ever

judging by my twitter feed, yesterday’s “kamala IS brat” tweet single-handedly brought about a 180 degree negative vibe shift on the album. amazingly poor reading of the winds

interesting feed you have

‘for you’ tbh but still

the "by elon, for the people" tab

it was extremely pro-brat and pro-kamala til sunday evening lol

Anyone who gets mad about that is a moron

In fairness, after she has re-established the Amerikkkan regime, Copmala will turn around and prosecute Charli for having a little key. The apple really is rotten right to the core, and Charli is naive and complicit if she thinks she can divorce Kamala from the context of all that she is and all she did before.

prosecute Charli XCX

Love this brat explainer on CNN

CNN talks about Kamala Harris’ ‘brat’ themed campaign.

pic.twitter.com/lBjbVEtZNf

— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 22, 2024

Love Kaitlan playing it cool as if she can't perform the apple tiktok dance unprompted and by heart

the cnn clip retroactively justifies the tweet

please tell me this involves Jeanne Moos

the gays on fire island are already wearing brat-themed kamala crop tops

the discourse moves so fast

damn that's some quick turnaround esp so soon after last friday's crowdstrike apocalypse

real "brands saying bae" moment

Hi, gay!

i was at glastonbury for work - i’m a community union organiser and we have a deal with workers beer where they give the union money and we send them staff for the festival - and was gutted to find i had a super late shift on friday which would prevent me from seeing both LCD and charli.

then i found out i was working the assembly bar directly opposite her stage and i was given my 25 minute break during charli’s dj set!!! i could barely see anything thru the barriers and the crowd was deafening but it’s still cool to be able to say i’ve seen her. what i DID hear was fantastic and she’s great at whipping up a crowd

i did see a lot of people saying afterwards that it was mostly george on the decks and that she needs to stop forcing him on her fans since it’s not him they come to see, which is fair

I liked b2b so much the rest of it is disappointingly too much of an MIA album for me. If you think this is inaccurate it's probably because you have a more detailed frame of reference than I do. Album has a very 'selfie' aesthetic for me, very 'would this look good in a music video?'.

i did see a lot of people saying afterwards that it was mostly george on the decks

i don't think she was on the decks at all.

she just wants to dance with GEORGE :/

the gays on fire island are already wearing brat-themed kamala crop tops

the discourse moves so fast

― Tim F, Monday, July 22, 2024 8:28 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Having grown up on Fire Island, I was so proud of the boys! That was some impressively quick turnaround time. Also - I knew exactly where they were in the pic that's going around. <3