Charli XCX – brat and it’s completely different but also still brat

After the unprecedented success of Charli xcx’s album brat, she returns to the tracks that kickstarted “brat summer” with a fresh and new perspective and a myriad of artists alongside her. The record begins with a revamped version of 360 featuring Robyn and Yung Lean, and Yung Lean’s addition was the one I was most excited for, and it definitely was worthwhile. In a continuation of the house sound that we have become familiar with from Charli, the next track is Club classics featuring Bb trickz. Here we have an absolute electronic sideshow that is sure to leave you bobbing your head and moving along with the beat. Spanish rapper Bb trickz delivers a bumping verse as the beat dissolves into something larger and heavier. This track is followed by Sympathy is a knife featuring none other than Ariana Grande. The EDM vibes remain strong here and it is easy to see this being the most popular remix as both Ariana and Charli bring their A game. Up next, Charli brings the 1975 and Jon Hopkins on to recreate I might say something stupid. The 1975’s addition was one that many were expecting, as Charli’s fiancé George Daniel is the drummer for the 1975. This one is absolutely crushing and is a beautiful ambient track that Matty Healy completely shines in. The lyrics in this one are also devastating and to me this track is a definite highlight of the record. An abrupt change lands us in the 808’s and house beats of Talk Talk with Troye Sivan, which was released about a month before the entire remix album was released and has been featured heavily in Charli’s Sweat tour with Troye Sivan. The party continues with the A. G. Cook remix of Von dutch featuring Addison Rae. Addison’s feature here is fantastic and Charli’s reimagining of this track is fantastic. This track cements the perfect mesh between EDM and pop music that Charli has brought into the mainstream. The next track features the genius artistic collaboration between Charli and Caroline Polachek, and honestly brings a little more fun to a track that was already beautiful and a serendipitous listen. With some songs having different hooks, I was glad to still hear “fall in love again and again” as the hook for this track. The next feature is dream rap staple Bladee on Rewind. This track takes a lot of clear influences from dream rap artists like Bladee and Ecco2k and is a ton of fun. Bladee brings his distinct style to this one and makes no attempts to sanitize his sound. The fun continues with So I featuring A. G. Cook and Cook’s production continues to be a highlight of this record, as he breathes new life into tracks that were already bustling with new sound. The first half of this song contains Charli’s melodic verses where she sings about all the “good times” that she has had, and the second half turns into a house track with spliced vocals and a synth backed beat that is sure to make you move. In the next track, Lorde and Charli xcx overcome their past issues on Girl, so confusing, which is a song about the oddities of being a girl and struggling with relationships with other girls. The subject of the song seems very poignant as it directly explains the odd and sometimes rivalrous relationship between Charli and Lorde. On this track, Charli and Lorde work it out on the remix and give the listener a wild experience while doing so. The next track is the remix of one of the most popular songs from brat, Apple. On this track, The Japanese House, who is signed to the same record label as The 1975, is featured and has an impressive performance. While this song does lose some of the catchiness of the original, it gains more nuance and emotion as it becomes a song about losing a relationship and battling with the emotional fallout of it. The next remix is B2b featuring none other than Tinashe, who has been making her own waves with her hit track “Nasty.” This track changes the beat of the song completely and instead of a big, booming beat with club vocals, we have a more downplayed beat and more of a “normal” pop song here with good verses from both Charli and Tinashe. In what is arguably the oddest feature of the record, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes joins Charli on the Mean girls remix. On the original track, Charli praises the mean girls of the world that have fame despite their oddities and overcome their issues, but on the remix, Charli only sings the hook (“this one’s for all my mean girls”), while Casablancas sings about a seemingly toxic relationship in which he fights for it and gets nothing in return. The album then continues with I think about it all the time featuring Bon Iver, which is an ambient and slow song with a droning instrumental and beautiful vocals from both artists. This is the period of the album that feels like going home after the party is over and remembering that you were sad before the party. The next track is the 365 remix featuring shygirl that is like going straight back to the party because you were too sad. This one is a bumping homage to the original that is a ton of fun the whole way through. The fun continues with the biggest hit of the remix, Guess featuring Billie Eilish. Billie shines on this one and has a verse that has already been all over social media. This track has radio potential and club potential and is a definite high note to end the record on.

Overall, this record has a ton of replay value, and in a time where we have pointless album deluxes and remixes, Charli tastefully redoes every track on brat in a way that makes the listen completely new and refreshing. The features here all fit and bring their own style and swagger to an album that was already bustling with character and hits. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to listen to this one and I would give this record a 8.4 out of 10