Unfortunately, Brat summer is over, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss how creative and talented Charli XCX is. Here’s a big round of applause for Charli, for dropping an album that brings us LIFE. Let’s also dive into her upbringing and how she became a star, because her story is interesting. You’ll want to stay tuned.
Charlotte Aitchison started her music career in 2008. She was 14 and living in the UK with her parents. Charlotte started releasing music on MySpace until she got recognized by local promoters. She was invited to perform her music at a lot of illegal raves. That’s baffling! Shortly after, she got signed to Asylum Records and started working on her debut album called, True Romance. However, a year prior, she recorded her most well-known song “I Love It.” Eventually, Icona Pop, a pop duo hopped on the track and the song went viral, hitting #7 on the Billboard Top 100. That’s why we heard that song at every H&M and on every TV commercial. It was stuck in your head at some point, along with other songs like “Boom Clap” or “Vroom Vroom.” Those songs also went viral in 2014. So, you’re lying if you say you’ve never heard of her; Charli XCX is that girl.
Fast forward to July 2024, she had recently dropped her album, Brat. This album was built on amazing marketing, speculation, creativity, and “It Girl” vibes. Brat has a very upbeat collection of songs, and most of the songs are about relatable topics; like how Charli’s song “Apple” is about generational trauma and escapism, and “Girl So Confusing” (featuring Lorde) talks about girlhood and friendships. If you look at the album cover, you’ll see how simple it looks. Her album cover says “brat” in an Ariel Slim font with a slime-green background. Compared to her other album covers, fans found it very boring and felt it lacked effort. However, there is a reason why she chose this. In an interview with Vogue Singapore, Charli said, “The cover is a response to the sense of ownership that fans have over female pop figures, removing their image and replacing it with the script, adding that the green is a reference to the media and fashion.” Pop fans always expect so much from female artists that they don’t know the amount of pressure they’re putting on them. The sexualization of pop artists is also so imminent that it’s scary. Yet Charli’s brat album cover took the world by storm! Now you can’t see the color green and not think of brat. Charli knew what she was doing. That was EXCELLENT marketing!
If there is anything that Charli XCX is good at doing, it’s dropping hit after hit and being an icon. On top of that, she’s such a girls-girl. Did you know that all the unused underwear from the “Guess” music video was donated to domestic violence survivors through a non-profit organization called “I Support The Girls”? Cool, right? Anyways, to wrap this up, Charli XCX is an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment. Brat is an amazing album. Argue with the wall. Bye queens!
Sources:
https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/1629/1/teenage-takeover-kickin-it-with-charli-xcx
https://www.vogue.com/article/summer-of-brat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31rL6M55B8o&t=540s
