The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2024 while Guess featuring Billie Eilish debuted at No 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, making Charli the first British artist top the charts this year. Embark on a journey of self-expression and design with Brat Generator, a captivating creative tool that empowers you to channel your inner artist while celebrating the bold aesthetic of Charli XCX. Whether you’re crafting custom memes, personalizing album-inspired covers, or exploring vibrant colors, Brat Generator combines the thrill of artistic freedom with the satisfaction of playful creativity. While initially she struggled to find a direction, on a trip to Los Angeles to meet with producers she clicked with Ariel Rechtshaid, who would soon have success with Vampire Weekend, Haim and Sky Ferreira. In 2011, Charli released two of their collaborations as singles, "Stay Away" and "Nuclear Seasons," which captured the attention of Pitchfork and the alternative media. At around the same time, a song she’d created with a different producer, Swedish-born Patrik Berger, was covered by the duo Icona Pop.Upon its release, Brat became the highest-charting album of her career, debuting at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart behind Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. "I think the wave of green that has sort of taken over is because it’s a party and it feels wild," he said. The slight blurriness of the font is also an homage to early social media networks like LiveJournal and MySpace. On Instagram, the Kamala HQ account made a post inspired by the brat aesthetic, including a screenshot of Charli XCX's original X post in the slideshow.
The artwork’s chaotic, "ugly" design can be seen as a visual representation of hyperpop’s sonic landscape—loud, abrasive, and unapologetically experimental. By embracing this style, Charli not only solidifies her place within the hyperpop community but also elevates the genre to new heights. This authenticity resonates with her fanbase, who value Charli for her fearless approach to creativity. By rejecting the polished, commercialized imagery that dominates pop culture, Charli reinforces her identity as an artist who isn’t afraid to be herself, flaws and all. Charli XCX’s decision to embrace an "ugly" aesthetic is also a reflection of her commitment to authenticity and self-expression.
In a world where image is often curated to perfection, Charli’s album art is refreshingly raw and honest. It mirrors the themes of rebellion and individuality that permeate her music. On 22 February, during her Boiler Room warehouse set, XCX debuted snippets of tracks identified as "Spring Breakers" and "365".[11] She was joined onstage by Addison Rae and Julia Fox;[12] a "Von Dutch" remix with Rae and A. G. Cook was released on 22 March.[13] On 6 March, she premiered "So I" at the Billboard Women in Music event.[14] "Club Classics" and "B2B" were released on 3 April as a two-pack promotional single. Commercially, Brat was Charli’s biggest yet, though it lagged behind Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish on the Billboard 200.
Like many of brat’s songs, figuring out the subject of "Girl, so confusing" isn’t difficult — which is why Charli reached out to Lorde ahead of its release. "I had to go through the process of telling her that this song is about her and her being OK with that first," Charli explains. "I was trying to meet up with her for almost a year, and we kept having this weird, like, we were [going to], then we wouldn’t.
But that’s precisely what happened when Charli XCX released her sixth album, "Brat" in June. Even if you’ve got no idea who Charli XCX is, you might recognize the slime green color, distorted font, and minimalist design. Beyond the ubiquity of the songs themselves, especially on TikTok, the album’s lime green cover and sans serif font have become instantly iconic, so thoroughly meme-ified that even the New York City MTA has gotten in on the joke. But though you might be tempted to assume that Charli just kinda opened up MS Paint and slapped the album art together in 30 seconds (which, to be clear, we would support), the inspirations behind it were a little more complex than that. In a world where visual perfection is often equated with success, Charli XCX reminds us that sometimes, it’s the flaws and imperfections that make something truly memorable. The "Brat" album cover is not just a piece of art—it’s a marketing masterstroke.
Overly analytical therapy-speak has infiltrated pop music lyricism, but listeners have latched onto the sincerity of Charli’s direct and "conversational" club music. Modern discourse has fixated on the meanings of girlhood and womanhood, but brat has effectively stripped away the sugar coating, laying bare the jealousy, messiness and confusion inherent to many female relationships, even if it often goes unspoken. Ten years into her singular, eclectic career, the pop star finally created the album of her dreams — and has hit a new critical and commercial peak.
"It would be foolish to make it all the way to Las Vegas—Jon is here, Luda’s here—and not play ‘Yeah! True, fans would have rioted if he had left out the 2004 mega-hit. As is stands, Usher put on a great show, even with some sound issues for those watching at home. The year is coming to a close, and we’ve compiled some of the best music moments from 2024 to share with you. Here’s a refresher, featuring Chappell Roan’s meteoric rise to fame, Sabrina Carpenter’s "Espresso" takeover, Brat Summer, and Cowboy Carter, plus much more.
